Timeless Ocarina
by Yolashillinia
Summary: Written pre-2007. Link and a female OC, Rana, set off to save the world in OoT. Link/OC. Complete.
1. Chapter 1: Darkness in the Morn

Written pre-2007

Chapter 1: Darkness in the Morn

The sun rose, normally, casting veils of light through the Kokiri Forest. Dust motes and the ancient spirits of fairies long gone transformed them to quivering theatres of radiance.  
The enchanted children of the forest, the Kokiri, who could never grow old, woke up with the sun and ran out of their tree houses to play and run on the green grass. One, a brown haired girl with a round face, and another, a sweet-looking green haired girl, played together. The brown haired girl was trying time after time to accomplish a handstand, but never balanced properly, even when the other girl tried to help her. They looked often towards a small, dark house tucked away behind some trees.  
"Navi." A deep mahogany voice called, unheard or ignored by most of the laughing children. "Come here…"  
A tiny ball of light bobbled back and forth a few times, and then flew to the speaker, floating just in front of his face.  
"Have you not felt the darkness in the air? Once again, malevolent forces are mustering to attack our broad land of Hyrule… The Kokiri Forest, which has stood for ages as a wellspring of life, is faltering. Even my power is as nothing…"  
"I am sick, Navi. I need your help. It is time for the child of destiny to begin his journey. Do you understand?"  
"Right!" chirped the fairy.  
She whizzed off, fluttering frantically for speed along a path, meeting a particularly small, pouty child on the way, and through the village, calling greetings to some of the Kokiri and fairies she saw there, and then she looked around. There! The little house in the back was her destination, and she bruised herself in her haste to get there.  
Inside, the curtains were closed, and it was dark. A small form was huddled under the blankets.  
"Um, excuse me? Wake up!" the fairy called. The body shifted, and a blonde head emerged, tousled, sleepy, and unhappy. When he saw the ball of light with butterfly wings, his eyes widened ludicrously. The dream he had had went right out of his head.  
"Hi! I'm Navi. I'm your new partner!"  
"Really?" the boy asked, a wide smile lighting up his face. He had been waiting for so long! All the other Kokiri had fairy friends except for him, and he didn't know why, but he'd been waiting for at least eleven years.  
"Yeah! You're Link, right? I've got a message for you from the Great Deku Tree!" The Great Deku Tree was the guardian spirit of the forest.  
"Really? Yes, I'm Link. What kind of message?"  
"Uh, uh, I'll let him tell you. I'm just supposed to say he wants to see you."  
"Right! Can my friends Saria and Rana come too?"  
"Yeah!"  
Link got up, put on a long green cap, and walked out of his door. He looked down off the balcony, and saw the brown haired girl and the green haired girl.  
"Hey, Link!"  
"Hello," Link called, and jumped off the balcony instead of using the ladder.  
Standing upright after somersaulting on the ground, he saw the two girls were laughing at him.  
"Is that a fairy? Really? That's great, Link!" said the brown haired girl, her face smiling as if the whole world were full of laughter.  
"Thanks, Rana."  
"You're finally a full Kokiri!" the green haired girl said, smiling with her big grassy green eyes.  
"Yeah, Saria, and now Mido can't make fun of me!"  
"Whoo!" yelled Rana, dancing around in circles. She was two years younger than Link.  
"I'm Navi!" Navi squealed, introducing herself to them all, the three Kokiri and the other two fairies: Rana's Naeri and Saria's Nanci. The fairies bounced up and down and Navi and Nanci talked very fast.  
"Rana, Saria… I just remembered. I had a dream last night," Link said in a low voice, feeling cold as he remembered. "It was… disturbing… I was outside a town, and it was dark, and two girls on a white horse galloped past me."  
"That's odd," Saria said. "I had a similar dream, but it was mixed up with the three Goddesses and things."  
"I didn't dream about the Goddesses, but a… humanoid shaped monster in black armour threw… something like dark light at me, and it hurt."  
"Weird," Rana said. "I didn't dream anything. Well, I dreamed I was hungry. Is that a premonition?"  
Link smiled and beckoned. "Anyway, Navi told me the Great Deku Tree wants to talk to me."  
"Why didn't you say so? We're wasting time! Come on!" Saria chided them.  
As they came to the path that led to the Great Deku Tree's glade, a short, orange-haired boy stepped out in front of them, blocking their path.  
"Excuse me, Mido, but I need to see the Great Deku Tree. It's urgent," Link told him.  
"I was just to see him, and he told me not to let anyone in unless they have a weapon! Go get one, Linky-poo, and then go see him!" Mido taunted him. "You may have a fairy now, but you're still not a Kokiri!"  
"Mido!" Saria shouted. "Shut up!"  
Link ran back home, while Saria and Mido argued. Mido, the second oldest Kokiri who was bitter at anything strange, never accepted Link, and Saria, who was the oldest Kokiri, took it on herself to defend him. The other children didn't like to fight with Mido.  
Link clambered up the ladder of his house and pulled a small wooden shield from under his bed. When he came out again, he saw Rana with another shield from her house.  
"Well, we have defence, but we still need a weapon!" Navi reminded them.  
"Weapons," Naeri said softly.  
Nanci came fluttering over to them. "Saria knows where you can find a sword. Follow me!"  
She led them to a cliff with a tiny crack in it. "In here, if you can get through. Link, this one's for you. I'm supposed to ask the Wise Brothers for one for you, Rana."  
"Okay." Rana sat on a nearby fence and waited for Link to come crawling back out of the crack.  
Five minutes later he came out with a short sword strapped to his back with a brown belt. He was grinning cheerfully.  
"Well, that was easy," he told Rana.  
"What was it?"  
"There was a boulder in front of the sword. It's the Kokiri Sword!"  
"Oh. I went in there a long time ago, and I was scared. …What? The real Kokiri Sword?"  
"Yes, see? …I remember when you went in."  
"Really? I was only four."  
A boy with orange mop-hair jumped out the house near them, ran all around, and finally found Rana.  
"Here you go; I knew we had one of these somewhere. Found it in one of our old chests, I did." He held out a long dagger with a leather sheath.  
"Thanks, Bov."  
"Well, we're all set, so let's go!" Nanci called to them.  
Link ran off, and Rana hurried to catch up, but tripped.

Saria was seeing off Mido, dusting her hands in a satisfied fashion even though she had only yelled at him, when the other two children ran up to them. The small boy saw the swords.  
"Well, I give up! Try to protect people from themselves indeed! May as well go jump in a river!" Mido stalked off muttering.  
"What's a river?" his fairy Nati asked him.  
"Okay, Saria, we can go now!" Rana waved at her. "Wait, what about you? You'll need a weapon! Are you just going to use magic?"  
Saria smiled. "I'm not going with you. I'd only get in the way."  
Rana sat down beside Saria firmly. "Well, then I'm not either." The girl knew that if Link was a hero, he would have adventures, and she didn't want Saria to get left out of them.  
Link, some ways ahead of them, stopped and turned around slowly. "Won't at least one of you please come? I have a fairy now, but I've heard that heroes are very lonely people, and I want to have my friends as much as possible…"  
"Go on, Rana," Saria urged. "I'm no good at that physical activity stuff, but you're almost as good as Link."  
"You are, too!" Rana cried indignantly.  
"Rana, it's okay. I'll always be here. You go on."  
Rana sighed, and stood up. "You win. Will you come next time?"  
"Maybe! Have fun, and don't get hurt, please!"  
"Thanks, Rana, Saria," Link said. "I wish you could come, Saria, but I know better than to argue with you."  
Saria winked and walked away to her house, humming.  
Link took a deep breath and walked down the path.

He heard rustling and looked around. The noise wasn't Rana; she was trying to be silent and not succeeding very well, but she was making a clumping noise. The rustling was from the bushes beside the path…  
A large round thing shot out at him from the left and he brought his right arm with the shield around to meet it. Rana jumped back. It was the head of a plant, a plant with teeth.  
"Deku Baba," Naeri said. "Carnivorous plant with a primitive brain. That's funny; there haven't been any of those around here recently."  
Link chopped it in half with the Kokiri Sword.  
More rose out of the bushes. Link cut down three of them, and Rana managed to get two.  
Both children were rather shaken and nervous after that, but nothing more happened until they stood in front of the Great Deku Tree.  
"Navi. You have returned?" The tree spoke in a deep voice, and although patterns on its massive trunk gave the impression the side facing them was a face, the voice spoke into the air from nowhere. The tree itself did not move.  
"Link, and Rana. Rana has come? That is well, and yet you must be particularly careful, my child."  
"Why? What do you want us for?" Rana asked innocently.  
"I am sick, children. I have been cursed, for the ancient darkness threatens to rise again. Link, this is your task you must break the curse with your courage. Do you accept this mission?"  
"Yes," Link said firmly. Was this why Saria had advised him to become strong when he didn't have a fairy? It couldn't be; that was long ago.  
"Then, enter, brave forestlings, and fortune be with you…" A door, an opening appeared on the side of the Great Deku Tree, looming like an enormous mouth.  
Link hesitated for the barest second, and stepped inside.


	2. Chapter 2: The Great Arachnid

Chapter 2: The Great Arachnid

The inside of the Great Deku Tree was horrifying for the forest-raised children. He was as hollow as a drum, and they stood within a great hollow cavity of rotting wood that reached up into darkness. Ragged spiderwebs stretched across huge spaces like decaying shrouds. Link was very glad he had a small glowing fairy following him.  
After staring upwards for a while, the boy took a deep breath and squared his shoulders, his small sword and shield at the ready, and walked forward to a depression in the floor. Before he came to the centre of the chamber, he stopped short. The centre of the ground was actually a deep well, but covered over with a thick gooey spiderweb.  
Rana came up behind him and saw it too. "Gosh, this place is freaky."  
An enormous spider, as long, with its legs extended, as Link, scurried across the bottom of the web, making it tremble violently. The spider glared at them with its eight black eyes.  
Link shivered. "I agree."  
"Are the spiders poisoning the tree?" asked Rana.  
"I think so," Navi answered. "They've poisoned it, and then part dies, and then the ordinary bugs come in and eat. It's horrible. Let's get fighting."  
"Good idea," Link said, adjusting his grip on his sword grimly and setting off in search of something evil he could hit with it.

An hour later, an hour of climbing walls of rotten wood, slashing at giant spider-monsters, picking off smaller creatures with Link's new slingshot, and one heartstopping moment when first clumsy Rana and then the more graceful Link fell off a very high drop only to land in soft, cushioning water, the two small heroes and their fairies rested in front of a large cave practically oozing with darkness and poison. Their only illumination had been the fairies, not to mention one improbable torch in a cave dripping with cobwebs. Link burned them all away and found more bugs to kill.  
Link turned to Rana.  
"I think this is where all the evilness comes from. You don't have to come in if you don't want to."  
"Link, I've been with you this far, and though I'm not much help, I'm going to stay with you." Link hesitated, and then threw his arms around Rana in a big hug.  
"If I don't make it, give Saria one from me."  
"Link, I'm really absolutely positively definitely completely certain that you'll make it." Link grinned at her and turned to the cave mouth.  
He found himself in a cavern the dimensions of which were out of his sight. As Rana came in, a heavy rock collapsed behind them, locking them in. Rana shivered noiselessly. Boldly, Link charged into the darkness.  
"Link!" whispered Rana as loudly as she dared.  
"What is it?" whispered Link.  
"Where are you?" whispered Rana. Following the sound, Link ran back to Rana. She put her shield up defensively, but lowered it when she realized it was him. Link pulled out his slingshot and looked around.  
A light appeared on the ceiling. A dot in the centre light twitched, rolling all around. Rana nudged Link. The light in the ceiling turned into an eye and a gigantic spider-scorpion leapt down from the ceiling, hissing at them. Rana gasped.  
"What is that thing?"  
"I don't know." Link charged at it. The creature's single large eye lit a small area of the cavern around it, and he used that light as a target. The spider was too fast, though, and knocked him aside in a heap. It swatted at Rana, coming up to help, too.  
Link picked himself up, bruised and determined. He was the one the Great Deku Tree had chosen… He would accomplish this task, that no one else could!  
He ran forward again, dodging the claws – Rana had a long scratch on her arm now – and used his prime distraction, an exploding Deku Nut. The spider went limp in a confused tangle of legs.  
Link was transformed into something new that Rana had never seen before. His teeth were bared, his hair and hat were flying, and his eyes shone with a strange grim light as he hacked at the spider's body. The girl was frightened of her friend, but ran to help and was knocked aside again as the giant creature recovered itself and lashed out at them.  
The two Kokiri landed in a heap on top of each other, and Link hit his head hard against Rana's shield. The spider-scorpion crawled over to where they had fallen and prepared to strike with wicked looking fangs. Rana shoved Link out of the way.  
She screamed.  
Link, fumbling with his dazed head, sprang up at that sound. He grabbed the first thing that came to hand – Rana's knife – and threw himself at the spider, stabbing his weapon so deep into its head that it collapsed, dead.  
Rana sat up weakly and giggled. "I should get hit more often; it'll make this very quick if it makes you go crazy like that."  
"You got hit?"  
"Uh-huh. That's why I yelled, right?"  
"Where?"  
"Here," said Naeri, hovering behind Rana's right shoulder.  
Link and Navi hurried around to see. Rana peered at them anxiously with her green eyes as the young boy solemnly inspected the ragged, black-stained gash in her Kokiri tunic.  
"This looks bad," Navi said. "Saria will know what to do!"  
"Yes, let's go see Sar- What's that?" Rana asked, pointing to the centre of the cavern. A blue light shone there, as if stirred up from some great depth.  
She got up, a bit unsteadily from wobbly, adrenaline-fired knees, and shuffled over to it. "It's pretty." She put a foot in it.  
"It's a portal!" Navi said. "It'll take you somewhere. Probably out, since, you know, that rock's still there."  
"It is?" Link looked around. "You're right." He stepped in the portal as well.  
His vision blurred and turned white, and then he found himself falling, descending, and finally touching the ground outside of the Great Deku Tree.  
"Well done, Link and Rana, and Navi and Naeri," the Tree said ponderously. "You have slain the monster that was destroying me… This is your reward: a greater challenge."  
"What is it?" asked Link.  
"You must go to see the princess. She will tell you."  
"The _princess_? Of _Hyrule_?"  
"Wow," Rana said.  
Link stood up straighter. "I'll go."  
"Give her this stone, and ask about the Legend of the Triforce…" The great tree's voice sounded thin and faint.  
A bright light appeared above them, and faded gradually, so they could see what it was: a brilliant green stone, wrapped around with vines of gold.  
"Pretty," Rana mumbled, staring innocently up at it. Link took a step forward and received the emerald as it descended gently into his hands.  
"A man named Ganondorf wanted this. Go to the castle…" the tree repeated, the rich colour of its leaves fading quickly. "Your efforts were valiant, but my trust in my own strength has been misplaced against the power of the murky malice rising… Do not fear for the forest… Another Deku Tree will grow. Now, go… Link, the turning of the tide rests on you…"  
"…Farewell…"  
"Farewell!" the children and their fairies cried unhappily.  
A few grey leaves fell, but the tree was motionless.

"What happened!?" screamed Mido, meeting them when they returned to the village. "Did the Great Deku Tree…" his voice broke and dropped comically to a whisper, "did he… die?"  
He saw their sombre faces.  
"WHAT! Well, this is all your fault! How could you do a thing like that!?" Link drooped visibly as the short Mido turned away in disgust. Rana patted his shoulder encouragingly.  
"Don't listen to that idiot. The Great Deku Tree told you himself." Link wasn't listening anyhow. He was looking around, pulling Rana after him urgently.  
"Saria!" he yelled anxiously. Sometimes Saria went to her own private place, and it would take time to get there… but fortunately, Saria came running out from her house.  
"Saria, she's poisoned or something. Can you help?"  
"I don't know anything about poison or the creatures it comes from," said Saria worriedly, inspecting Rana's shoulder.  
"Let's just go to Hyrule Castle, I'll be fine," Rana said stubbornly.  
"You will not be fine for another two days," Link told her firmly. "I'm going to get you to Hyrule Castle in less than six hours. There will probably be a professional healer there, or someone of the sort."  
"Six hours?" groaned Rana.  
"Good luck," Saria called after them.  
Link nipped into his house to grab some food, while Rana started to leave. One of the Wise Brothers stopped her.  
"You're not allowed to leave the forest, or otherwise you'll die," he said. Saria came to her rescue.  
"She's allowed, by permission of the Great Deku Tree." Rana and Saria walked onto the bridge separating the forest from the world.  
"Rana, we'll always be friends. I'll always think of you while you're gone."  
"Thanks, Saria. I know you're older than me, and you really ought to be the one following Link…" Rana trailed off. "I think what I'm trying to say is… You're my best friend. Goodbye, Saria…"  
"Goodbye, Rana." Rana ran off, waving over her shoulder and looking back often, grinning cheerfully. As she passed out of sight, Link ran over the bridge. He almost got to the other side when he realized that Saria was standing there. He turned and came slowly toward her.  
"Rana has gone on ahead?"  
"Yes." A pause occurred. "I have something for you. I was going to give it to Rana, but you'll need it more." She pulled a little ceramic instrument out of her pocket.  
"You won't be coming back soon… I know it… I want you to have one of my Fairy Ocarinas." Link held it carefully.  
"Link… You'll always be my friend."  
"Goodbye…" Link whispered. He walked backwards slowly, then turned and ran without looking back. A single tear ran down his cheek.

As they travelled, approaching exhaustion for the children, Rana still had the energy to ask questions.  
"I was wondering… that thing _was_ a monster, but… Was it right to kill that spider creature?"  
"Yes," said Navi. "It was making its home in the tree guardian of our forest. It may have been innocent and not malevolent, not planted there by Ganondorf, but it was killing our forest and working to his plan."  
"Oh, okay."  
Hyrule Castle Town's wall rose higher on the horizon.


	3. Chapter 3: The Princess's Premonition

Chapter 3: The Princess's Premonition

Link and Rana made Hyrule Castle Town in about eight hours, which was dusk, by rushing. They were both completely exhausted. It was nine in the evening, and they entered just before the bridge was raised. Link looked around for a healer's place. The wound in Rana's shoulder had turned black. She was very pale and wanted very much to stop and rest.  
"There!" cried Link, hurrying Rana towards a two story building on the edge of the town square.  
"Hello there," said the fairly young woman inside, smiling at the two children. Link did not waste time.  
"My friend is hurt, badly," he said quickly.  
"I'm not that bad," Rana objected weakly. The woman's expression changed to concern. As she examined Rana's shoulder, she began looking quite shocked.  
"What have you been doing to get such a poisonous injury? And why didn't you come earlier?"  
"We couldn't," said Rana, rather indignantly. "We live in the forest. We were fighting a giant spider-thing–"  
"Rana," said Link. "Do you think anyone will believe that?"  
"Actually, I do," said the woman. "This is serious. If you live in the forest, you made here in good time if you started at lunchtime; that is how old this bite is. Come upstairs, dear, and we'll have another look." Rana followed the woman upstairs. Link sat down in a chair and fidgeted with his slingshot.  
The woman came downstairs in a few minutes.  
"Your friend will be completely fine by morning. It is quite a virulent poison in her, but I have some fairy magic on hand that can deal with spider poison as bad as this. She will stay upstairs tonight; you may see her tomorrow."  
"Thank you," said Link gratefully. "Good night."  
He left, and, finding nothing better to do, slept soundly the rest of the night in an alley on a box. Stray dogs sniffed him, but didn't bother him.  
The next morning, he was up early. Not only did he have a sore neck, but he wanted to see Rana. He walked into the shop.  
"Yay!" yelled Navi. "Rana!"  
Rana was simply dancing around, exercising her shoulder. Link ran to her and patted her on the back; she gave him a hug.  
"I'm so much better! And Lauri's such a good cook! Where did you sleep?"  
"On a box," answered Link nonchalantly. Rana became indignant.  
"What did you do that for? I got to sleep in a bed, and you're the hero and you slept on a box? You're nuttier than I am!" They both laughed. The woman smiled at them.  
"She's all better now. She's told me everything, and I'd be happy to help you two."  
"Why?" Link asked. "It's such a weird story!"  
"You two," said Lauri, "are wearing strange green clothes and you have fairies following you."  
"Yes…"  
"Ancient lore in Hyrule tells of the Kokiri children, and I had to study that in second level potion-making. Anyway, you can come back here for meals, and to sleep, and definitely if you get hurt again."  
"Thank you!" stuttered Link.

Later, the Kokiri visited the market, and met a pretty young girl about eleven years old with red hair and big blue eyes. She asked them a hundred questions, but gave them ready answers to all the things they had to ask her: her name was Malon, and she lived on a ranch with real horses and some cows and chickens and her father, Talon. Rana liked her a lot, so Link left her talking while he went up to the white, spired castle on the hill behind the town.  
"Please, sir," Link asked the guard at the white gate, "I need to see Princess Zelda."  
"Ha ha, little boy, you think you need to see the princess? What put that idea in your head? Run away and play, now!" Link stood firm.  
"It's urgent. She'll understand when she meets me," he said determinedly.  
"Don't you mean you? There's three of you!"  
Link looked around and saw Rana and Malon had followed him.  
"Silly boy, can't you see? Nobody's allowed into the castle unless they are summoned. That's the new rule around here! See you later!"  
"Wait!" said Malon. "I want to go in, anyway. My daddy's in there, and he hasn't come home for a whole day!"  
"Who's your daddy, little girl?"  
"Talon, of Lon Lon Ranch."  
"Er… well… I suppose you could go in, but you'll need an escort to ensure you don't wander off." The guard peered over his shoulder and blew a small silver whistle. Another solder came running.  
"What? Are people trying to break in?"  
"No, this young lady is looking for Talon, the milk-man. Get her an escort and be quick."  
"What about those other kids?"  
"They want to see the princess." The solder slapped his knee, giggling. "That's a good one!"  
"Yeah, but they're just kids. Did she summon them?"  
"No."  
"The Great Deku Tree sent us. He's the guardian of Kokiri Forest!"  
"S…o… w…h…a…t."  
Rana glared at the guard, but Link dragged her away. "We'll wait a bit."  
They climbed up to the top of the town wall and waited for the guard to change. A stout man dressed in red and blue, with a beard, came running out of the castle frantically. Malon came out soon after, giggling. Rana waved to her.  
At noon, the soldiers changed while bugles blew and fifes shrilled. Again Link tried to go into the castle, and again the soldier refused him entry. The boy was getting frustrated, and his fairy said so.  
"Well, we have to go! The Great Deku Tree said so. We can't just mill around because of some block-headed guards!"  
"Yes, we do…" Link looked at the closed gate thoughtfully. "I wonder if we can sneak over the gate."  
"You're not thinking of-!" Rana shivered. "You'll get in trouble!"  
"I know, if I get caught."  
"You're crazy!" Even Navi thought this plan was stretching their luck.  
"You can stay here, and then it'll just be me who gets in trouble."  
"Yeah, I'd better stay here. If I trip, we're dead."  
"If you want. I'll see you later, then."  
Link crept off, climbing over the wall using every tree-climbing skill he had ever learned…  
"Wait!" Rana whispered from below him. "I changed my mind! It's too freaky waiting by myself. I'm coming." Link smiled and waited for a few seconds for her to catch up before dropping lightly to the ground inside the castle wall.  
Climbing around obstacles and avoiding the guards' line of sight was a difficult, tedious process. Once they made it inside the inner wall and to the inner moat, Link relaxed a bit. Now he walked sturdily around, though close to the wall, looking for a way into the castle proper.  
"I imagine the princess would live somewhere in the centre and up," Naeri said softly.  
"Look there!" Rana pointed at a small, clean drain emptying into the moat. "Can we crawl through that?"  
"Don't know. Navi, can you…"  
"Sure!" The two fairies zipped away, into the darkness.  
In a few moments they were back. "You can get in that way! It leads to a fountain in an inner garden, and then there are lots of guards, but after that, there's a little courtyard, and the princess is there! We don't have to go inside at all!"  
"Thank goodness," Rana said. "We'd never make it in there. I wanna see those gardens." She slipped into the moat and tried to climb into the drain, but she was too short and splashed back in the water. Link hopped down behind her and gave her a foot up, then climbed up himself. The water was cold, though it was late spring.  
Inside the gardens, they were surrounded by windowless walls, hedges, shrubbery, and brightly coloured flowers of kinds not usually found in the forest. The forest children were entranced, and before Link could stop her, Rana put a spray of small lilies behind her ear.  
"Sorry, I couldn't help it. They're so pretty!"  
"Let's go," Navi said. "This way. We'll tell you when it's safe to go."  
With the fairies' help, they crept past the half-asleep guards and through the sunshine to a discrete archway in the wall.  
"Look! There she is!" Naeri whispered.  
Link, hugging the wall of the arch, looked and saw a small, slender person dressed in a pink frock and a white shawl and headdress.  
The children felt suddenly shy. This was their destination, but how were they going to explain everything to the princess? How would they get her attention without alarming her?  
Link inhaled deeply, trying not to breath in pollen, and walked forward firmly. Rana trailed behind awkwardly. He stopped about ten paces away from the girl staring fixedly through a tall window.  
"Excuse me…"  
The girl started, then turned and faced him, her skirt swishing with a delightful noise. Her eyes were very wide for a moment, and then she smiled.  
"You've come!" she cried softly. "That's wonderful! What are your names?"  
"Er… This is Rana, and that's Naeri, and this is Navi, and I'm Link."  
"What do you mean by 'you've come'?" Navi asked.  
"Well, I had a dream, a prophetic dream, and it was… uh… I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself." The girl drew herself up with a slightly regal expression. "I am Zelda, Princess of Hyrule." Her posture relaxed again into comfort. "There, I did it. Anyway, I had a dream where Hyrule was covered with dark clouds, but a bright light shone in the forest. There was a boy who looked just like you, with a green stone and a fairy friend…"  
"Wow," Rana said. "Are you magic, Princess?"  
Zelda chuckled. "Just call me Zelda. I guess I'm a bit magic, but I can't really do anything yet. My nurse is going to start teaching me some real spells soon, though. Do you have the green stone in the dream?"  
Link pulled the Kokiri Emerald out of his pocket.  
"Great! Oh, I'm so relieved."  
"Why? What's going on? I don't actually know much. The Great Deku Tree just said to tell you everything."  
"Look through the window… the clouds from my dream are in there," Zelda said, pointing with a shudder.  
Link looked, and saw a tall man, dressed in brown and khaki, with brilliant red hair and a jewel in the centre of his forehead. The man was smiling pleasantly, and bowing as he talked to someone Link could not see. Rana, who had crept up behind Link, backed away again. "He looks freaky," she said to Zelda.  
"He's from the Gerudo people, so he does look different, but it's not that that frightens me…" answered the princess.  
Just then, the man turned his head slightly and his golden eyes looked right into Link's!


	4. Chapter 4: To the Mountain

Chapter 4: To the Mountain

Link jumped back as if the gaze had scalded him, and indeed he felt it had pierced his mind. He glanced at the man again, and saw that he had turned away from the window, his stance politely apologetic.  
"What happened?" Rana asked.  
"I don't know," Link replied. "He is evil, I can tell that much from his eyes, but what does it all mean? The Great Deku Tree said that a man named Ganondorf wanted the stone, and that was why it died. Is Ganondorf one of this man's servants?"  
"No, that is Ganondorf. He is the hidden root that is bringing the evil back to Hyrule. I can feel it. Wait, th-the Deku Tree is dead?"  
"Yes… there was a poisonous spider eating at the roots."  
"That is serious. We'll need to move quickly to counter him. I wish my father would believe me when I tell him he's up to no good. Peace treaty indeed!"  
"But what is he after?" Rana asked impatiently.  
"I'm so sorry. I keep forgetting… Um… Rana, wasn't it? I believe Ganondorf is after the Triforce."  
"Really?" Rana gasped. "But it's impossible to find it, because it's in the Golden World."  
"That's true, but Ganondorf is after it all the same."  
"How annoying. What do we do?" Navi asked.  
Zelda laughed at the fairy. "We need to try and warn the other holders of the Spiritual Stones. One is the Goron Elder and the other is someone in the Zoran Royal Family. Have you ever met a Goron or a Zora?"  
The children shook their heads.  
"Saria said she met a Zora once," Rana chirped. "There's a way for them to get to the Lost Woods."  
"Well, Gorons are like big rock people. They're very jolly and friendly, and their leader Darunia has the Spiritual Stone of Fire, the Goron Ruby. The Zorans are different altogether. They're tall and slender and love music and swimming. I know less about their leadership, since they're a bit reclusive, and none of the Royal Family has visited in the past few years. I think there's a king and a princess, though. They have the Spiritual Stone of Water, or the Zora's Sapphire."  
"Right. Where do they live?"  
"The Gorons live under Death Mountain, and the Zorans live at the head of Zora's River. Um… I forgot to tell you what to do after you get the stones."  
"I thought you just wanted us to warn them about… Ganondorf."  
"Well, yes, but if you have the Stones, that's where the cool part happens. Have you heard of the Master Sword?"  
"What?" Rana asked.  
"Saria said something about it once," Link said. "It was once kept in the Lost Woods, but then it was moved out by a distant hero."  
"It's in the Temple of Time, down in the town, sealed behind a heavy door of stone and magic. When evil arises, a hero comes and takes the sword. To prevent people from just fooling around with it, the three races of Hyrule used the Spiritual Stones as the key to lock it away."  
"Oh, I see, so we get the stones, and then Link takes the sword and becomes the Hero!" Rana cried excitedly.  
"When did you make up this plan? Just now?" Naeri asked curiously.  
"No, after I had the dream. The clouds were really thick. I can't stress enough their menacing nature. If we don't stop them, we may be in for a rough time."  
"From the weather?" Navi put in cheekily.  
Zelda giggled. "Monsters like a strong negative atmosphere."  
Rana keeled over comically, overcome by difficult language.  
"I'll send my nurse with you to escort you out of the castle. Go to Death Mountain first; it's a little easier to see the Gorons. You'll need this letter I prepared earlier to get past the safety gate."  
"Right," Link said, putting it in his pocket. "Will you keep the stone, or…"  
"You keep it. I have the last piece of the puzzle, and I'll need all my energy to protect that. 'Kay?"  
"Right. Thank you, Zelda."  
"If the letter doesn't get you through, there's another way. Impa will teach it to you." The princess waved, and a tall silver-haired woman, neither young nor old, appeared as if out of nowhere near the arch.  
"You are the children the Princess has foreseen. I am Impa of the Sheikah, bodyguard and nurse to Princess Zelda."  
"Teach them the song, Impa," Zelda requested.  
"I remember, Princess." Zelda made a face behind her guardian's back as the woman whistled a gentle tune. Link found where he had stashed his Ocarina and practiced it until he could remember it easily.  
He said "Thank you," and followed the woman as she led the two Kokiri through the castle to the gate.  
"There is one more thing for you; it is a gift from the princess." She took two large shields off her back and handed them to Link and Rana. "These are the shields of the Hylian Knights. There are few left now, but the hero and his friend should keep them. They will be useful." The shields were made of wood with steel on the outside, and both children found them much too large and heavy to use comfortably, but they took them in preparation for the future. Each had a red eagle and a Triforce on it. The fairies took them and stored them away as pieces of magic somewhere.  
The sun was getting a bit low in the sky, and after thanking the Sheikah once more, they went back to Lauri the healer and stayed at her house for supper and sleep.

The next day, they were up early. Saying goodbye to Lauri, guessing they would be gone a couple of days, they left the town and headed towards the mountain range in the west, aiming in particular for the distinctive cone of a volcano. They found a road that crossed the river with a bridge and led into the foothills to a beautiful little town named Kakariko. It was more laid-back in feel than the bustling castle town, but they found out that Impa was well known there; in fact, she had once been the mayor.  
Soon after that, and after lunch, they found the safety gate Zelda had spoken of. The guard there was much amused by the princess's new game, but let them through when he saw the letter.  
The road after the gate dwindled to a rocky path that rose soon above the town on steep cliffs. The children climbed carefully, pausing only to slay the odd Tektite rock spider that got in their way.  
They came to a big cave opening. Inside, where it was brightly lit by torches, they saw moving rock piles.  
"I think those are Gorons," Link told Rana. She giggled.  
"They're funny!"  
A Goron walked up to them. "Welcome to Goron City!" He walked away again.  
Link and Rana walked slowly down the steep flights of stairs. At the bottom of the first one, Rana saw Link's long ears twitch.  
"What is it?"  
"I thought I heard Saria! But that's impossible. She can't be here." Link looked around and followed his ears. They led him to a long tunnel. Halfway through, though, it was blocked by some boulders.  
"We can climb over that," mumbled Link to himself.  
"Um, Link? I'm kinda claustrophobic about this place, you know…"  
"Okay, so we can't climb over that. Whatever." Link swung his sword randomly, thinking, wondering if he could ask a Goron for help, when the ground blew up under him. The Kokiri were sent flying back into the wall.  
When they climbed back up, the boulders were gone. There were some large chunks of rock lying around, but no block.  
"What happened?" Rana gasped.  
"I don't know," Link answered.  
"I saw!" chirped Navi. "You accidentally hit one of those plants!"  
Link looked at the tiny little tomato-sized black fruit and shivered. He bent and tried to pull it off of its stem. It didn't budge, even when he used both hands and braced his feet on the cave floor.  
After a minute, he gave up and ran down the tunnel with the fairies and Rana following him. The familiar music grew louder.  
The children and the fairies came out of the tunnel into the Lost Woods.  
"Weird," said Navi.  
"Hey, let's go talk to Saria! She should know what we've been doing," Rana suggested eagerly.  
"Good plan," agreed Link, and strode off in the direction of the Sacred Forest Meadow.  
They came into the Meadow, and saw that the maze was blocked off by a tall gate.  
"Why is that there?" Rana asked. "It wasn't there last week, when we went to play hide and seek… I wonder why she put it up."  
"I don't think she… put it up herself!" Link's last words came out in a startled shout as a Wolfos charged out of the tall grass around the gate. His sword and shield were good to go, so Link charged to the attack. Rana fumbled with her sword, but stared as the Wolfos slowed… then stopped… then ran away from the crazy kid running towards it with a sharp sword.  
Link stabbed the sword into the Wolfos' tail, pinning it to the ground.  
The Wolfos disintegrated and the gate faded into mist.  
"That was weird," said Navi.  
Naeri peeked around the corner. "There's some Dekus," she said quietly.  
"Let's get 'em!" Rana cried. "I'm in a hurry, and Dekus are easy."  
Now it was Link's turn to watch in surprise as all the Dekus fell over in Rana's dust.  
Finally, they entered the stairway where the tree tops arched over into a sort of cathedral.  
"Almost there," said Navi, grinning in anticipation.  
Saria's ocarina whistled and sang through the Meadow below the Forest Temple. She knew it was the Forest Temple from what the Deku Tree had told her, being the oldest, wisest, and most grown-up Kokiri. However, nobody could get in. The stairway had broken long ago, before the old Deku Tree was planted.  
"Hurrah!" cried Rana, dancing around like a little girl. Saria looked up and laughed.  
"What are you doing here?" she asked, smiling.  
"Do you think we wouldn't stop by sometimes and give you a progress report?" Link asked sardonically. Everybody but him giggled.  
"That gives me an idea," Saria announced. "I'll teach you my magic song. My song! The one I play all the time."  
"When you play it here, I can hear it from the entrance to the Lost Woods," Link said.  
"We can even hear it from Goron City, you know."  
"Is that where the long dark tunnel goes?"  
"Yes."  
"I know where the pool leads to, because a couple of times Zoras came and visited me…"  
"Yeah, you told us," Rana said. "We told the princess about it."  
"So, what have you been up to?" Saria asked.  
"Well," began Link in his quick concise way, "we snuck into the Castle and showed the Emerald to the Princess, and she sent us off to get the other two. We climbed up Death Mountain today. We think the Gorons have another one."  
"Death Mountain?" Saria asked with a shudder.  
"It's not deadly, at least we haven't been hurt yet."  
"Okay, I'll take your word for it. Let's teach you my song."  
She raised her Ocarina to her mouth again and played the sprightly little tune. Link played it on his, note perfect. It wasn't coincidence, either; Rana usually spent whole days just humming the tune. Major third… augmented fourth from the first note… It was very difficult to play, but fun.  
"Well… it's about five… you should stay home tonight, and go a-questing tomorrow, don't you think?" Saria asked.  
"You're right. I'm finished for today," Link admitted.  
"Wait for a sec! How did you get in here this morning?" Rana demanded.  
"I warped, as usual. Why?"  
"'Cause there was a Wolfos at the front of the maze, and Deku scrubs. That explains it." Saria had strange powers all to herself. She didn't show off, and she always walked when she was with her friends, though.  
"That is strange," Saria said, her face concerned. However, there was nothing more they could do about it, and the creatures were gone when they left again.  
The adventurers fell asleep very quickly after they ate.


	5. Chapter 5: The Great Lizard

Chapter 5: The Great Lizard

In the morning, they ran back through the tunnel in the Lost Woods, studiously ignoring Mido who was studiously ignoring them.  
Back in Goron City, and down long flights of stairs, they came to the bottom of the city. Link looked around and saw a closed door with the Triforce surrounded by strange, Goronish symbols. He knocked, and wrung his hand.  
"Stone door," he explained. No one opened the door, so Link pulled out his Ocarina and played Zelda's Lullaby on it.  
All the Gorons nearby stopped what they were doing and looked at the children. They stared even more when the door opened and they ran inside.  
A strong, old Goron with a white beard stood in a barely furnished chamber with a statue in the back of it. When he saw Link and Rana, he looked as shocked as an impervious Goran face can get.  
"What the heck? Who are you?! When I heard the song of the Royal Family, I expected some messenger had arrived, but… You? You're just kids!" Rana looked indignant, but Link stood calmly. However, as soon as he opened his mouth, the Goron shook his head and continued. "Has Darunia, the big boss of the Gorons, really lost so much status to be treated like this by his Sworn Brother, the King? Yes, that's it! That makes me REALLY angry! Go away now!"  
"But… but…" began Rana.  
"Relax, Rana," said Link.  
"I'll tell you what my problem is, since you came all this way… Ancient evil creatures have infested the Dodongo's Cavern, so we can't eat because of the rock shortage! We've had a poor harvest of Bomb Flowers! Still – this is a Goron problem! We don't need any help from strangers! Especially not kids!"  
"Will you please listen to us? We want to help! I think we know what the problem behind all that is!"  
The Goron began to shoo them out. "It's Ganondorf!" squeaked Navi. "We have to stop him! We need your help too!"  
"Sorry, kids, too grumpy to listen properly. It's for your own good. Get out!"  
Rana ducked a swat from a heavy stone-like hand. "I know something that helps me…" She whispered to Link, who nodded and got out his Ocarina. He dodged as well, and began to play Saria's Song.  
Darunia stopped trying to flap at them and listened to the song, relaxing with creaking noises, his mouth eventually curling into a smile. Link played on, embellishing and jazzing the simple tune, and the Goron leader broke into a wild, gyrating dance. Rana sidestepped again, clapping in time and smiling.  
Eventually he stopped and waved at Link. "Wow, boy, that's a great tune. I think I've heard it before…"  
"It's called Saria's Song. Saria's the name of our friend. You can hear her song from somewhere in the Lost Woods."  
"Hey, there's a passage through the hills to that place! But we never use it. Too damp. Now! What have you come to tell me?"  
"I need the Spiritual Stone of Fire – for Princess Zelda," said Link.  
"Well… I suppose. But I'm not going to give it to you too easily! If you really want it, could you go and fix up Dodongo's Cavern? Then you can prove yourself a man!" He looked significantly at Link. "That will make it better for everyone."  
"Sure!" chirped Rana. "But, how do we get in there?"  
"Wait, I was coming to that! I'm going to give your boyfriend a present. Here you are, lad." He shuffled through a pile of dust and strange oddments. Then he turned to Link and gave him a small – for a Goron – golden bracelet with a Goron pawprint on it.  
"This will give you some extra strength. It should come in handy! Now, the entrance Dodongo's Cavern is halfway between Goron City and the little Hyrulean village in the hills – that Kakariko place. It's sealed up, so try and get someone to open it for you with a bomb flower or something."  
"Thank you very much, Mr. Darunia!" squeaked the fairies.  
"We won't disappoint you!" cried the children. Then they turned and ran, up the stairs, and out of Goron City.  
Link and Rana ran down the Mountain Path, searching for the cave they had to enter. Link's attention was caught by the canyon wall.  
"Look, Rana," he said. "There's a sign here."  
Navi read it. "It says… Dodongo's Cavern?"  
"But… there's no entrance anymore!" said Rana. "At least, I don't see one… can you?"  
"I don't know if…" Link trailed off. Rana looked at him, his brow furrowed in thought. Suddenly he sprang up the path.  
"Link? Wait, where are you going?"  
"I just thought of something! That's the entrance, all right, but it's been covered up! Let's try and get someone to bring a bomb, like he said."  
He found a Goron, and after explaining, the Goron brought a bomb to the cliff top above the sealed cave. The thing began hissing like a kettle and the Goron hastily dropped it over the edge of the cliff.  
The children cried their thanks to the friendly Goron and ran down to see what had happened.  
When they reached the odd looking cliff, Link saw with delight that the entrance had been blown open. Rana sat down, panting.  
"Are you tired?" asked Naeri. Rana nodded. Link immediately sat down too.  
"There's sure to be hard fighting ahead," he said, "so we'd all better rest."  
Rana grinned. "I'm looking forward to the puzzles."  
After a moment, she got up and gave him a hand up. "Let's go!"  
The cave was warm and musty. Rana trotted through the entrance and froze.  
"There's the boss, I think," she whispered. Link came to stand beside her. He saw a vast cavern with fresh lava flows running through it to expire in heaps of dust. Across from him was a huge skull, rather wolf-like in appearance. The height of the great cavern was held up by pillars of rock that seemed like ribs. Link brightened as he looked around. This was adventure; this was what he had been born for.  
Rana, on the other hand, seemed a bit freaked for being in a cave with a giant skull in it.  
"That's not the boss, silly kitten," Link said tolerantly. "That's just decoration."  
"Oh," she said doubtfully.

In the mazes of the cavern, they found fire traps, fierce lizards of all sizes, Keese bats trailing fire, and many stairs that were much too big for the Kokiri's short child-sized legs. Link found a small bag specially designed for holding bombs  
After a day of puzzle solving, they found a door in the back of the throat of the giant skull. Link looked at Rana, confusion in his eyes. She shrugged, so he opened the door. In the next chamber, there was a fractured stone in the floor and some more bomb flowers. It looked like the stone was like a trap door lid, but it was much too heavy for the children working together.  
"That reminds me," said Link, looking at the flowers. "You can keep the bracelet. I have these bombs. They're much lighter."  
"So bomb away," Rana said cheerfully. Link smiled.  
He set the bomb on the strange patch in the floor and backed away with his Kokiri shield at the ready.  
Then he peered down through the hole his bomb had made.  
"I think it's okay," he said dubiously. "Why don't you fly down there, Navi?"  
"Just jump, already!" cried Navi impatiently. Link sighed, gave Rana a sardonic salute with the face that she said looked like 'resigned to fate', sat on the edge of the hole and dropped in. He rolled far below and stood up, coughing dust. Rana plopped down behind him. They spoke in whispers.  
"This is a big room," said Rana, staring around and the tall walls and the small puddle of lava in the centre of it.  
"It's terribly hot," said Navi.  
"I feel scared," admitted Naeri, huddling close to Rana.  
"Sh! I heard something!" Link hushed them, thinking he heard breathing. A grunt startled them.  
Link cautiously turned his head, hoping the creature didn't match the voice in size. His fears were confirmed.  
A giant Dodongo had been breathing on their backs. Link turned right around and gaped. Rana screamed. Link wondered with a small part of his mind whether she would do that with every monster weighing more than 1000 kilograms. The lizard was easily three times their height.  
"Okay, what to do, what to do," Navi chunnered to herself, flying backwards hurriedly.  
"I think we need to run," Link said, jumping out of the way as the lizard came stomping towards him.  
"Er, it's slow and heavy. How can we use that to our advantage?" Rana asked. "Can we put it in the lava? Without getting cooked?"  
"We could blow it up, maybe," Navi said without enthusiasm. "I don't think Deku nuts will work against that thing… Look out, Link!"  
The lizard had curled up into a ball and rolled smoothly – and quickly – towards the boy, who ran out of the way and balanced on the edge of the molten pool. He burned his hand as he struggled to keep up in the wind of the Dodongo's passing.  
"We'll try everything," he said, following it around the chamber as fast as he could go. The live bowling ball hit a wall with its head and unfolded, turning to face Link, who flung an assortment of objects at it, especially after it opened its mouth invitingly and inhaled strongly.  
The rock and the Deku nut did nothing, and he had to duck as flame blew from its jaws violently, almost searing his other, outflung arm. Rana dropped the bomb she had been lugging over, tossing it into the lava as she tried to get out of the way of the Dodongo, rolling towards them again. The magma spurted up like a small sluggish geyser where the bomb had landed.  
Link waited for the Dodongo to uncurl again, but it wasn't co-operating with his plans and rolled around the chamber several times, tiring him greatly while he chased it.  
This time, he shot a Deku seed at it – using them had worked against smaller Dodongos, but this one had a thicker tongue than they did, he supposed. Rana threw a bomb, and instead of breathing fire at them, the Dodongo gulped it down. A few moments later, there was a rumble and the Dodongo collapsed for a few seconds before staggering to its feet again.  
Rana smiled at Link and waited for it to open its mouth again.  
There is not much more to say about the battle; the Dodongo eventually had enough bombs and rolled into the magma, where it sank. They never saw it again, but they did find a tunnel that led them to Goron City. Rana had burned her arm as well.  
They tried to find Darunia, but he wasn't in his room. As they exited…  
Thud! A Goron landed in front of them like a falling boulder and stood up. It was Darunia. He patted Link on the back, making the boy fall on his face, and thumped his chest, grinning his face off.  
"Thanks, Link! You got rid of all the monsters! That's quite an achievement! I had an idea. In addition to giving you the Goron's Ruby, how's about you and I become Sworn Brothers?"  
"Eh?" Link picked himself up and dusted himself off, startled and confused.  
"There's no formality or anything. We're just brothers now. Okay?" Darunia did some magic thing and the Goron's Ruby appeared in the air over Link's head. The young hero reached up and took it.  
"Sure! Sounds fine to me."  
"Well, there are some of my people who do want to thank you in a more substantial way…" Link looked around behind Darunia and saw a crowd of Gorons waddling towards them. They gave cries of "Brother!" and "Group hug!"  
Link panicked. A Goron hug would crush him to pieces. With a startled wail, he fled, Rana right behind him.  
"You might want to go visit the Great Fairy on top of Death Mountain!" Darunia called after them happily.

Late the next morning the two children came out of their respective houses in Kokiri Forest. They had run instinctively to the Lost Woods, but then Link wanted to go back and find the Great Fairy. Sneaking past the celebrating Gorons – who were mostly in the Cavern, eating the staple of their diet, rocks – they found the path that climbed further up the steep slope of Death Mountain.  
Up right beside the top of the cone, there were several caves. One, inside, was tiled with white marble, with glittering dark walls and a torch-lit pool at the back. At first, no one was there, but after Link played the princess's song, a tall slender woman with her red hair in three tails burst out of the pool, laughing. She healed their burns and gave them the power to use the magic spell Din's Fire.  
After that, they returned to the forest and slept late.


	6. Chapter 6: The Realm of Music

Chapter 6: The Realm of Music

When Link and Rana and their fairies had woken, they met with Saria near the playground.  
"We need to talk to the Zoras next," Rana said.  
"Well, I don't think you will be able to use their pool in the Lost Woods."  
"Why not?"  
"It's too deep," Link said. "I tried once, a couple of months ago. I could get to the bottom, but I had no air left by the time I got down there."  
"Why don't you take a short break? You're frantically trying to complete this mission, that the princess gave you, and it is for the good of the world, but if you run yourselves ragged, you won't do anyone any good." Saria looked at him pointedly.  
"Eh?" Link thought for a bit. His arms and legs had been aching for the past couple of days… but he hadn't wanted to mention it to anyone.  
"Go on," Saria encouraged him. "You'll feel better after a day of rest. I know what it feels like."  
"You do?" Rana chirped. "How? When?"  
"Never you mind," said their green-haired playmate. "What about that Malon girl you told me about? Are you going to visit her like you said? She's probably wondering what happened to you."  
Rana turned a deep shade of pink and looked suddenly on the verge of tears. Saria patted her shoulder apologetically.  
"Yes, let's go see Malon," Link said cheerfully. "We can wait a day before we see the Zoras."  
"What if they're in trouble?" Rana asked.  
"The Deku Tree was poisoned, and the Gorons were starving…" Naeri agreed.  
"No, we're going to see Malon. We have an obligation to!" Link said firmly, gesturing broadly. "Don't worry about it. Saria's right. If we rest, we can do much better tomorrow."

The young ranch girl welcomed them with a huge smile.  
"Hello, Fairy Boy!" she cheered. Smiling, she made them lunch all by herself. Talon was snoring downstairs.  
"Do you want to see the horses?" she asked after they all ate. "We're famous for them. We have a new filly, too! I call her Epona."  
"I would like to see the horses," Rana said eagerly. As they passed the barn, a man with a very strange moustache came out of it.  
"That lazy father of yours said he'd help muck out the cow stalls! He's still snoring!"  
Malon pouted. "Don't bother Daddy. I'll come and help you later." She waltzed into the field, smiling. "That's Ingo. He's the hired man, but he complains an awful lot. I told him once that if he made any more snide remarks about Napony, he'd have to find work somewhere else. Then he started whining about all the hard work he does…"  
She began to sing, and a little red foal detached herself from the herd of brown and black and trotted over to her. She had white socks with black stockings, and a white mane and tail.  
Link stepped forward to pet the foal, but she shied away.  
"I guess she's afraid of you, Fairy Boy," Malon said. "Don't worry. I think she likes this song. My mother sang it to me when I was little. I'll teach you to sing it!"  
"Uh, I don't sing," Link protested.  
Rana pulled out his Ocarina and handed it to him.  
"Great!" Malon giggled. "That's a pretty ocarina. It'll work fine." She sang the pretty song again. Link followed her, and Epona the foal cantered over to him and licked his cheek.  
"I guess she likes me now," he exclaimed, laughing. "Can you ride her?"  
Malon snorted at his lack of equine knowledge. "Not for many more months. She's only a few months old. Still, she's the fastest foal I've ever seen."  
That afternoon was spent happily in the company of larger animals than the forest children had ever met before.

The next day, the children were running up the river, running to Zora's Waterfall. They knew that the next Stone was in the possession of the mysterious, elusive Zorans.  
There, around the bend and over the bridge, was an enormous waterfall. Stone arches, worn away by the water, leapt from bank to bank and from cliff to cliff. Link climbed up to the highest one, right in front of the waterfall.  
"Rana! Come here! There's a carving here," he called to her.  
Rana trotted up and brushed the mould away from the Triforce design.  
"I think I know what that means," she smiled at Link, who pulled out his Ocarina and played the princess' pretty lullaby.  
The waterfall seemed to slow; the force and noise diminished.  
"I'm going to jump across," Link said, tensing.  
"You can make it," said Navi, already inside the tunnel behind the fall.  
Link leapt and somersaulted on the tunnel floor. Rana jumped after, caught the ledge, and pulled herself up quickly.  
"Hey! Who's there?" called a strange, melodious voice. Navi and Naeri hid.  
"Just some visitors," Rana answered uncertainly.  
A pale blue person came around the corner. He was not much taller than Link, but very slender. The skin on his arms and legs had dark blue spots. Sprouting from his head as if it was meant to be there, which it was, was a long tail like a dolphin. Elegant fins fluttered from his elbows and hips. His narrow face, with its obsidian eyes, looked suspiciously at them.  
"Well, dudes, you kinda have to have a better explanation than that." Rana twitched in surprise at the slangy language.  
Link spoke. "We need the Spiritual Stone of Water, for Princess Zelda."  
"Princess Zelda, eh?" asked the Zoran. "Well, I dunno. King Zora's been grumpy – and anxious – ever since Princess Ruto disappeared day before yesterday. I'll see what I can do. My name's Shoza. Follow me."  
The children followed Shoza down the hall and turned right. Rippling light, bouncing off water, shone on the wall. As they passed deeper in to Zora's Domain, they heard beautiful music. They passed many Zoras, most giving them curious looks. Shoza called to one to take his place at the entrance. Navi and Naeri came out of their hiding places to look around.  
"Whoa, man!" Shoza jumped as Navi flew to take a better look at him. "What's that?"  
"I'm a fairy!" chirped Navi.  
"Well, then you guys must be from the forest?"  
"Yes, we are."  
"Wow! I've never met anyone from the forest. That's so cool. How old are you?"  
"I'm, Link, I'm twelve and Rana's ten," Link replied. "And we've never met any Zoras either, until now."  
"Cool. I'm eleven. I'm one of the doorwardens," Shoza told them, puffing out his narrow chest. Then he deflated a bit. "My dad says I'm the most grown up of all of them, but… I still might not get you in for an audience."  
"We'll manage," Rana told him.  
They began to climb a long flight of stairs. At the top, the tunnel branched. The lovely music was very close.  
"Hey, there, Shoza! Where're you going? Aren't you supposed to be working?"  
"Yes, Loma, I am. Here are two guests from Hyrule; they want to speak with King Zora. Important."  
"We're on an errand for Princess Zelda," Link put in. The tall Zora guard shook his head.  
"Sorry, kids, King Zora's given orders that only people who bring news of the Princess are allowed in. That's Princess Ruto, ya know."  
"If we speak to him, perhaps we could search for Princess Ruto…?" Rana suggested.  
"No," said the guard firmly. "You won't get in. I'll just lose my job. Sorry, but see ya later."  
Shoza walked down the other tunnel with slumping shoulders.  
"Life is so much harder with the Princess missing," he confided to the two Kokiri. "King Zora being reclusive, and all… To tell the truth, only one other fella has come here in months. I didn't meet him, but everyone saw him. Everyone heard him."  
"What did he want?" Link asked urgently.  
"Lesse… He came last week, in fact. Wanted the same thing you did, in fact, only he wasn't so polite as to say Princess Zelda's name!"  
Rana snorted. "That's 'cause she does want it, so she can stop him from getting it."  
"Huh? Sounds complicated. Why don't we go somewhere where we won't get overheard, 'cause it sounds dangerous." He came to the edge of the tunnel, where a sparkling waterfall fell into a deep lake with lots of other Zoras swimming and playing.  
"We have to dive?" Link asked.  
"I don't really want to…" Rana said nervously.  
Shoza winked an ebony eye at her. "It's fun. You'll see."  
"I am ashamed to admit this in the kingdom of the swimmers, but I don't swim very well, yet," said Rana.  
"Well, here, then…" Shoza grabbed his head tail and pulled off one of the brightest scales. "Take that. It's one of the magic Silver Scales that every Zora's born with. Helps us swim. If someone's in disgrace, they pull off their scales. Sign of shame, you see, not wanting to swim. Hey, Link, let's dive, man. Bet I'll touch the bottom first!"  
Link and Shoza dove. Shoza kept his arms tight at his sides and his tail close to his back, but Link tucked in his head and his hands above his head. Rana watched. Link came up first, spluttering.  
"Hey, Rana!" he called. "Come on! The water's nice and warm."  
"Keep your body straight all the time," Shoza offered. "Then you won't bellyflop."  
"Coming!" cried Rana. The scale was hanging by a string around her neck now. She took a little run and dove cleanly, screaming a little as the water came up to meet her.  
"Nice one!" said the young Zoran. "I think you need a scale too, Link. Now, let's roll. We'll go to the lake."  
"The lake!" exclaimed Link.  
"But that's all the way across Hyrule!"  
"Not the way we go," said Shoza. He humped over and dove, heading for an underwater gateway.  
"I'll wait here, for you. I'll try swimming some more," Rana told Link. Link grinned and followed Shoza.

In only a few minutes the boys were back.  
"That was fast," Rana said.  
"I understand now," said Shoza very seriously. "You're in some deep trouble, man."  
"Rana!" shouted Link. "Look what we found!" He waved a bottle above his head.  
"What's that for?" asked Rana.  
"It's got a letter in it! We have to go see King Zora now. We can get in, too."  
They hurried up the stairs.  
"You back so soon?" asked Loma. "Can't you guys take a hint?"  
"We can pass now," said Shoza, "or at least they can. They have a message from Princess Ruto."  
"Here it is," Link showed the guard the bottle.  
"Whoa, dude! Go on, then, and don't blame me if he kicks you out again."  
"I'll wait for you down in the swimming pool," Shoza said, heading to the waterfall. Rana waved at him, then entered the royal hall behind Link.  
King Zora was the fattest person that the children had ever seen.  
"Yes?" he demanded. "Do you have word of my darling daughter?" Link handed him the bottle silently.  
The king took the letter out and sagged in relief. "It's from Ruto, thank Nayru. She's… she's been swallowed by Lord Jabu-Jabu? That's impossible! Well, since that Ganondorf came… perhaps not so impossible. This letter is dated yesterday… You! Boy. Thank you for bringing me this letter. Would you also go and rescue my darling daughter?" He gestured towards a small but decorated door in the wall. Link bowed and hurried to the door eagerly.


	7. Chapter 7: The Great Parasite

Chapter 7: The Great Parasite

The beautiful lake behind the Zora's realm was worth coming to see. A big steel gate prevented anyone from jumping over the waterfall and breaking their necks on the rocks below, where the entrance was. There were a few islands dotted about, pleasant and peaceful.  
And a giant whale floated bang in the middle of it. It was huge! It was the biggest living creature Link had ever seen, counting the Dodongo. It had an ornate headdress, as befitting the sacred pet – or something – of the Zoras.  
Link popped his bottle's cork out and dumped out the fish in it.  
"You got a fish?"  
"Down at the lake. I was saving it for later, to show Saria, but this is better."  
Jabu-Jabu opened his enormous mouth. Link was poised to dart in, but it wasn't really necessary, because the whale inhaled the fish, Link, Rana, and the fairies.

In the mouth of the whale, there were many large bubbles. Rana poked one.  
"Ow," she said, pulling her hand back sharply. "What are these made of?"  
"Octorok drool," Naeri said. "Squid things. I think that means there are some of those in here."  
Link ran forward, holding his sword for a great forward sweep, and it began to glow blue, and then red. Rana ducked.  
He released it in a spinning whirling flash of power, and all the bubbles popped. Link smiled at his successfully and carefully perfected new technique.  
They walked carefully down Jabu-Jabu's gullet, passing into the next chamber.  
"I must say, this is the weirdest dungeon I've ever heard of," Navi said, lighting up the whole room.  
"What are those things?" Rana asked curiously, pointing at some sizzling jellyfish.  
"Those are electrical," Navi warned her. "Don't touch them."  
They ran warily across to another opening, to a large chamber with a red pillar pulsing in it.  
Link suddenly stopped. Standing there watching him was a rather pretty Zoran girl: Princess Ruto!  
"You! Who are you?!" she demanded imperiously.  
"I'm Link, this is Rana my friend, this is Navi and that's Naeri."  
"I am Ruto, Princess of the Zoras."  
"Oh, then you're the one we've been looking for!" cried Rana. "King Zora asked us to. He's worried about you. We found a letter in a bottle down at Lake Hylia."  
"What?! I'd never ask anyone to do such a thing as _rescue_ me, and I don't know what letter you're talking about! I don't care if my father is worried about me! Anyway, I can't go home right now. And you… Get out of here!" She turned her back on Link and Rana and walked away determinedly. Suddenly, she fell through a hole with a scream.  
Link followed her and Rana after him. They fell in a heap together, and got up to see Ruto looking scornfully at them.  
"Are you following me? I told you to go away! I'm OK. I've been going inside Lord Jabu-Jabu's belly since I was little, but… Lord Jabu-Jabu is very strange today… There are electrified jellyfish and things around…On top of that, my precious stone was… but that's none of your business! Go home now! Understand?"  
"I don't understand at all. Does that mean that the jellyfish and such aren't usually here?" Ruto didn't answer and turned her back on them disdainfully.  
"I'm not going home until I've fulfilled my promise!" insisted Link.  
The Zora princess looked around with an expression that was oddly hopeful. "You're that worried about me? Then I will give you the honour of carrying me! However… I won't leave until I find the thing I'm looking for. Got it?" She sat down and folded up into a little ball. Link picked her up with a sigh of resignation, after handing all his weapons, minus his sword and shield, to Rana. Ruto cooed.  
Shaking her head and smiling foolishly, Rana followed Link as they wandered back through the bowels of the whale. They found odd bits of inedible junk everywhere, including a small wooden boomerang that Link decided to hang on to himself. They accidentally meandered in a circle and came back to the same room, even with Ruto pointing in all directions to show them where to go.  
"Well, I'm trying to find my stone! I don't care where we end up, as long as we find it! I just know that we can go from here to here, but not in here…" Link tried to tune her out as he carried her through a new door and into what seemed to be a branching artery. Link led them left first, left being his sword arm. Strange white snakes with large pincers came out of the floor and attacked. Rana slashed at them but was mildly electrocuted.  
"Rana! Are you okay?" Link put Ruto, who squeaked, down in a hurry and pulled out a Deku stick from his friend's belt. He swung it at the snake, which broke in half, although the stick did too; he swung it too hard.  
"Never seen one of those," Ruto chattered. "Did you have to just drop me like that? Is your friend okay?"  
"I can talk too, you know. It's okay. You can talk to me," Rana said cheerfully. "I'm fine, now."  
"I know you can talk. You talk almost as much as I do," Ruto retorted. There was a lump in the floor and Link walked over it.  
A strange membrane on the door ahead of them disappeared with a thunk. Link stepped off again, and it appeared. Rana stepped on it, but it didn't go away.  
"It needs the weight of two people to fix it," Link said to himself; Ruto and Rana were getting steadily annoyed with the other. He put Ruto down surreptitiously on the lump beside Rana and walked through the open door, leaving the two girls arguing with each other. There was a huge red nerve end dangling from the ceiling. It flicked at him.  
"It can think!" Navi cried, alarmed. "I don't know how, but it sees you as an enemy!" Link ducked as it almost took his hat off. It hunched into the ceiling. Then he brought his boomerang back and threw it at Navi's targeting, the weak narrow section of the 'tail'.  
It jerked as the boomerang hit it, and flailed all over the room. Link was tossed against the wall, and jerked randomly from the weak electricity. When his ears cleared, he heard the membrane on the door opening and closing, and knew that Rana and Ruto were trying to get in at the same time and not succeeding.  
He threw the boomerang and walloped the tentacle, and knew to duck this time. He wondered why it didn't attack Navi.  
A third hit, and the last strands of nerve parted and fell on the floor. The rest pulled back up into the ceiling, and hopefully went back to wherever it was supposed to be.  
When he exited the room, Ruto pounced on him verbally. Link scooped up the princess, ignoring her irate chatter, and jogged down the other corridor, Rana killing electric snakes on the way. There was another lump in the floor, and another blocked entrance. Rana jumped on the lump, and it opened.  
Link left Rana sitting on the switch while he went in to the chamber, taking the Princess, who would not be parted from him. Red electrical fish flew up from the floor and circled near the 'ceiling'. Link pulled out his slingshot, the other thing he had kept.  
"You use that old stick? Why not a bow, like the heroes in the fairytales Daddy reads to me sometimes? It's a little boyish, don't you think?" Link glanced at her, and then shot them all down one after the other. Ruto just stared at him, trying not to show her astonishment.  
Link walked back out of the room without a backward glance. Ruto ran to keep up with him.  
Rana was crouched on the switch with her shield over her head and a Deku stick in her hand. Jelly tentacles were scattered around her. When she saw Link, she smiled in relief.  
"I'm sorry I said that!" Ruto squealed, grabbing his hand. "Did I offend you?"  
Link said no, not at all, but he didn't smile. He was feeling rather tired of Ruto. He wished that it was just Rana and him again, the way they had done so far, bouncing ideas and funny comments off each other, showing off, complaining, all the 'best friend' things that they and Saria all did together every day.  
It was also dark and hot in the pits of Jabu-Jabu's belly. Navi was a bit droopy, and so was Naeri: they all wanted a breath of air, though they wouldn't admit it.  
They rambled back to the room with the holes in the floor, and Link jumped down the nearest one, a different one than the first.  
"Hey!" cried Ruto. She jumped down and landed in Link's arms. When he put her down, she blushed and giggled.  
The next room was small and round. A low bulge took up most of the floor space. Shining on top…  
"That's it! That's what I've been looking for! Throw me up there!" The Zora girl was wriggling so hard that Link could hardly hold on to her. Obligingly he sat her on the edge.  
She giggled as she picked up the trio of sky blue sapphires. Then she turned to Link and Rana.  
"Thank goodness! I finally found my mother's stone… I got very upset when Lord Jabu-Jabu swallowed it…While I was feeding him, he suddenly swallowed me! I was so surprised I dropped it and then I couldn't find it… But, now that I've found it, I don't need to be in here anymore!" She paused. "So, take me home, right now!"  
Link walked towards the lump, and Ruto wobbled unsteadily. Then the pedestal rose into the ceiling and Ruto screamed.  
"What! An octopus?!"  
The pedestal came down again with a gigantic Octorok on it. Rana screamed. The Octo jumped off the pedestal and began chasing Link around and around. Sharp teeth or spikes stuck out of the platform, scraping painfully against his skin.  
Link found he was catching up to it. He slashed at it with his sword, but it bounced off. Rana was really getting tired and slowing down wearily, the adrenaline of fright wearing off. The octo was almost on her. In desperation, he flung the boomerang at it.  
The lump of jelly stopped dead, paralyzed. Link ran up to it and slashed it. This time, his sword bit deep, stabbing the green spot on its rear end one more time. It collapsed and melted.  
"Gross," murmured Rana. The spikes on the lump in the centre of the room retracted. Link jumped on it, but it rose before Rana could follow.  
In the room above, there was no sign of Ruto. Rana came up a moment later, and looked anxious.  
"You're not worried about that bossy, prissy princess, are you?" demanded Navi.  
"Well… getting eaten by an octo would be a horrible fate," said Rana.  
"Rana!" said Link admonishingly.  
"Isn't that what seems to have happened?"  
"No." Naeri seemed certain.  
"She would have jumped out and yelled at us for letting her get eaten after the thing melted, right?" said Link. "Sorry. She would have jumped out after the thing melted and yelled at us for letting her get eaten, right?"  
Rana giggled. "Right."  
"Good. Then let's go."  
They wandered, and were lost. Finding themselves in a big green chamber with no exit besides an impassable valve, they sat down to rest in the muck on the floor.  
"I'm tired," was the first thing Rana said.  
"I hope we can find a way out of here," Link said quietly, looking around.  
"It sounds like a story," Rana commented. "The intrepid, whatever that means, hero and his sidekicks descend into the bowels of a whale, never to return… to vanish mysteriously from the face of the world… never mind the princess…"  
"Yeah, right," said Link, laughing.  
"We'll get out of here," Navi said indignantly.  
"Hey, look!" said Naeri, pointing with her body and wings. "You could climb that surface, I think."  
The wall was rough and pitted, pocked with little holes. It was slippery, but Link stood at last on the top of a pillar jutting out from the wall. He found he was looking through spiderwebs and mucous at a funny lump.  
"If we hit that, maybe we can open the valve over there," he said to Rana while giving her a hand up. She handed him his slingshot.  
"Thanks." The Deku seed was stuck in the gummy web. Link frowned and pulled out his boomerang. He had to try a couple times, but the boomerang sliced through the webs and hit the lump at last. As he had guessed, the valve near the floor popped open.  
"Before I forget, you'd better take your stuff back," said Rana, handing him the rest of his equipment. "You know, I've been wondering… why doesn't the electricity fry the whale?"  
"I'm afraid I have no idea, laughing butterfly," Link told her, smiling at the nickname. The fairies nodded.  
Link jumped down and somersaulted, getting thoroughly covered in slime. Picking up his hat, he strolled to the next room, jamming the hat on his head. Rana followed.  
The next room was as large as the last one, but it was pink. A large blue thing was pulsing against one wall. The door sealed shut behind them again, so shut that it could hardly be distinguishable.  
The blue thing detached itself from the wall, trailing tubes that connected it still to the innards of the whale. Navi squeaked.  
"G-giant b-barym-mede!" Naeri stammered out. Link rolled to avoid a miniature lightening bolt that shot past him. That would have killed him, alone.  
The thing swelled like a balloon, its colour changing to purple… until Link realized it was releasing a shield of blue jellyfish. He grabbed his boomerang, and with Navi's targeting help, knocked some down. Rana took one of her Deku sticks and held it in two hands like a baseball bat.  
One of the three turrets on top of the monster swivelled to aim at her.  
"Rana! Look out!" She rolled away in time. Link jumped to the side as another electric beam shot at him. He shot some more jellyfish.  
Another beam shot at him. He ducked and rolled.  
Right into the arms of a jellyfish. It stung and shocked him. It was much worse than the red nerve. He twitched and fell.  
Rana killed the last jellyfish. It fell on him, twitching weakly, but it didn't shock him. He felt too exhausted to push it off and get up.  
"Link! You have to get up! It's going to shoot soon!" Link clambered up with her helping hand.  
"Look out!" screamed Navi.


	8. Chapter 8: The Door of Time

Chapter 8: The Door of Time

The Kokiri dove in opposite directions as the space they had been standing in was charged and sizzled.  
"Now to deal with this thing," Link said, looking grimly along his boomerang at the large purple blob. All the jellyfish were gone. "This seems to neutralize electric objects. I wonder what it will do here." He flung it at a bulbous shape on the top of the monster. The barymede turned a dark purple-green colour.  
Rana shouted, smacking it with her sword edge. It quivered and shook violently. Then it began to bounce around. Link grabbed Rana and Naeri grabbed Navi, pulling them to a safer place. The thing began to tire out and rolled to a stop. Then it pulled itself upright and swivelled its turrets. Link threw his boomerang and dodged, but it didn't shoot. It was stuck again, paralysed by the shock of the boomerang.  
Link and Rana slashed at it, tearing large wet chunks out of it. Rana was starting to look pale, and Link waved her back. It trembled and began to bounce, and after only a few bounces, swelled with red lumps and exploded, covering everyone in green and purple goo and blue blood. Rana had turned green.  
"Blechhhhh. I want a bath."  
A portal appeared behind them.  
"Hey!" Ruto's voice called. Navi flew up abruptly, startled. The Zora princess was frowning at them, and Link resignedly wondered what she would be squeaking about this time.  
"Come on! You're just a pair of kids! You're awful at being heroes! Let's get out of here!" Ruto scolded. Link stalked to the warp and faced the angry-looking princess. Rana tiptoed in behind him.

The first thing Link saw, after the blankness of warp space faded from his eyes, was Ruto's face, dangerously close to his own. He flinched, lost his balance, grabbed hold of Rana, fell off the log he was standing, and yelled with his mouth full of water. Ruto dived in more gracefully and came up close to him.  
"You! You were really great." She blushed and smirked. "I was kidding in there. Is there anything I can do for you, to thank you?"  
"I must ask for the Spiritual Stone of Water, Zora's Sapphire. I need it to…"  
"Okay! My mother told me only to give it to the man I'm going to marry… you could call it the Zora's Engagement Ring instead. Here!"  
Link gulped as he took the sapphires set in gold. 'She certainly changed her tune,' he thought to himself.  
"You're planning to… marry me?"  
"Well, of course! You saved my life! And there's what my mother said, too."  
"But I only need the stone to…"  
"Never mind about that. I don't care. We'll just keep it our little secret, okay? Okay, Rana?"  
"Okay," said Link, relieved to not promise anything foolish.  
"Okay," copied Rana. Ruto smiled dreamily and swam away.  
Rana took off her boots with a little effort and flung them to shore. "The good thing about warping to here is that we can wash off all that guck." She rubbed her arms and legs vigorously, grinning happily. Her colour was much better.  
Link did the same. "Now, we have to go to the Temple of Time to put these Stones in their proper places and tell the princess…"  
"Let's go!" They grabbed their boots, walked past King Zora and Ruto, bowed respectfully, and ran down the stairs and out of the waterfall.  
"Hi, Shoza!" called Rana.  
"Hi, people!" Shoza yelled back. "You were gone a long time."  
"We have to go to Hyrule Castle, right away, quickly, but we'll come back as soon as we're able to."  
"Okay," said Shoza, climbing out to walk with them to the entrance. "Just one thing: you rock, dudes." He winked. "I already heard you saved the princess. See ya!"  
"See you around, Shoza," Link replied. Then the Kokiri jumped through the waterfall to the world outside.  
"Let's walk," said Rana. "I've had enough swimming for a while."  
"Fair enough." They ran down the river, crossed the bridge, and ran towards the town. Their clothes were getting pretty dry, although Rana was complaining of water in her boots being very uncomfortable. Then Naeri noticed something.  
"The bridge is up!"  
"There are dark clouds in the sky," Link noted grimly. "It's not normal. I wonder what's going on."  
The gate began to open. A white horse at full gallop streaked out, barely missing the two children. They heard a cry, and saw the white face of Princess Zelda and the tanned one of Impa for a moment. Something whizzed over their heads and splashed in the moat. Link and Rana watched until the horse was out of sight.  
Something horsy snorted behind them. Link turned around. His expression changed; his eyes were wide with fear, his mouth hung open.  
Standing at the gate was a black horse with a tall, red-haired man astride it.  
"You there!" cried the deep-voiced man. "Tell me where the white horse went, quickly, and I will reward you greatly." Rana gave a little scream and backed away. Link drew his sword.  
Ganondorf laughed.  
"You think to fight me and hide them? Fool! Idiot! But I like your courage. I must do something about it." A ball of negative light appeared in his hand, and he threw it at Link. The boy was flung backwards and screamed with pain. The girl caught him awkwardly.  
"That will happen to all who stand in my way!" shouted Ganondorf and galloped off into the darkness. Link picked himself up, shivering.  
"What did Princess Zelda throw in the river?" asked Navi.  
"I don't know. Let's go look!" said Rana eagerly.  
Link looked back into the gathering dusk. "I hope the Princess is all right."  
Rana sobered. "Yes, so do I."  
Link dove cleanly into the river behind her. She hurried after.  
"How come you're always one step ahead of me? Link? Can you hear me?"  
Link could hear her slightly, an indistinguishable murmur above the water. Navi flew down to the blue object on the riverbed. He grabbed it.  
The world went white. He saw Zelda, standing in the Temple with the Ocarina of Time.  
"Link, I must leave now, before Ganondorf comes. I had hoped to meet you, but it's okay now. I will teach you the tune that will open the Door of Time with the three Spiritual Stones." She put the Ocarina to her lips and played a simple tune, no more than a minor triad in the beginning. Then the dream changed and he was standing by the altar with the Ocarina. He played the Song of Time…  
"Link! Link!" Rana was patting his face anxiously. Somehow, he was lying on the drawbridge. He sat up.  
"We have to go to the Temple of Time."  
"Don't ever pass out like that under water again. I was so scared… You were clutching the Ocarina, moving your fingers and trying to stick it in your mouth… I hope that lack of air hasn't caused you to go insane. What do we need to go to the Temple for? Don't we need to help the princess?" Link simply jogged into the town, trying to keep both embarrassed blush and amused grin from his face, and failed miserably at both.  
The Temple of Time was a tall, gothic structure. The inside was paved with marble, and was completely bare except for a small pedestal near the entrance and a plinth at the back with an altar of white and black marble on it. Behind the altar was a huge stone wall with a carving on it of a sun with rays extending down to the floor.  
In the Temple, he stood before the altar and played the song from his dream. The Three Spiritual Stones wriggled, flew out of his pouch, and swirled around his head before coming to rest on the altar. The Triforce on the back of the Temple glowed golden. The world was absolutely silent.  
Without warning, the ground began shaking. The Door of Time split down the exact middle and retracted into the walls to either side of it. Trembling with excitement and apprehension, the two young Kokiri entered the room behind.  
A beautiful broadsword with a blue-purple hilt was half buried in a stone plinth.  
"Is that –" began Navi. She fluttered over to the sword.  
"- the Master Sword?" finished Naeri.  
Breathless, Link approached it.  
"Is it real?" asked Rana incredulously. Link smiled at the naïve comment. Rana looked at him and smiled back.  
He warned, "I might have to pass through time – it isn't called the Door of Time for nothing, is it? – and I might not be back for a while."  
"I'll do all the Market errands we were going to go on, like there was a guy who wanted us to get him a present for his little boy, but he couldn't. You know. Sorry, I'm babbling…"  
"It's all right…"  
"Anyway, I'll be waiting for you!" she chirped. "I'll check on Sundays, noon till one! Don't forget me!" Link smiled and nodded.  
He had an idea. He quickly pressed the old Fairy Ocarina into her hands, and she gave him a hug. Then, she backed away, out of the room.  
Link took two steps forward and grasped the hilt. It felt warm and comfortable, but a little large. He took it in both hands and gave it a tug. Navi stood on his shoulder and watched with bated breath. It came free easily, and a strange blue light filled the Temple as a portal opened and sent them away…


	9. Chapter 9: When Is a Hero?

Chapter 9: When is a Hero?

Link opened his eyes. He felt heavy. His gaze swirled around woozily, coming to rest on a large man on a golden platform.  
Only then did Link take in his surroundings and realize that he himself was on a grey platform, surrounded by a small island of water, an isolated floating point in a vast darkness. Light and beautiful patterned waterfalls came from shadows above and fell to blackness below.  
Directly in front of him stood the rather stout man; a man with rich red and gold robes and white hair and beard.  
"Greetings, Hero of Time."  
Link, still partly asleep, blinked before he realized the man was speaking to him.  
"I am Rauru, the Sage of Light."  
"Where are we?" asked Navi.  
'Thank goodness', thought Link, 'she's still with me.'  
"We are in the Temple of Light, in the Sacred Realm."  
Rauru's even voice took on a gentle tone. "Link, look at yourself."  
Link looked, and started. His boots were longer, and he had fingerless leather gloves on his hands; under his larger green tunic he was wearing a white sweater and leggings. But it was the length and strength of his limbs that interested him the most. His Hylian shield felt usable now, and his heaviness vanished as he shifted his feet. Navi flew in excited circles around his head. He looked at his reflection in the water and blinked. His own face was no longer recognizable to himself; a strange, handsome blonde man stared back at him. His eyes, though, were the same brilliant blue that he saw every time he had stared into his mirror, in his house in Kokiri Forest, for clarification of his puzzled life.  
"Link!" cried Navi. "You're all grown up!"  
"Well, seven years ought to do it," Rauru told him rather facetiously.  
"I'm nineteen now," said Link wonderingly. He started at the sound of his voice. It had deepened into a rich tenor. "Is that it? I have grown seven years? Why? Haven't we lost time against Ganondorf?"  
"You… when you pulled the Master Sword from the Pedestal of Time, you were too young, too small to wield it as the Hero."  
Link smiled at his reflection. "Seven years ago, I might have argued that, but now I agree with you." He straightened up again to hear Rauru.  
"Your spirit was passed to this time in order to more directly challenge the King of Evil. If you succeed in breaking the curse over all of Hyrule-"  
"By which he means that if we kill Ganondorf –" interrupted Navi.  
"-then your past life during those seven years will be unchanged."  
"And if I fail?" asked Link softly.  
"You will not," thundered Rauru. "You are the Hero, wielding the Blade of Legend." His voice deepened and softened. "However, if such a thing does come to pass, you will disappear at the moment you drew the sword." He cleared his throat. "But now, to business. When you break the curse, you will travel back seven years, to do whatever you have been doing. I beg your pardon. For me, it is past. For you, it is future."  
"I understand the challenge and I accept it."  
"Me too!" cried Navi.  
"Very good. You know your ultimate goal. But, before that, you must go throughout Hyrule and awaken the Sages. There are Seven Sages. I am one. One is hidden, and I do not know who it is. The other five sleep as ordinary people, waiting for you to come."  
"And when you leave this place, hidden in the Sacred Realm," warned the Sage of Light, "do not be shocked by what you see of Hyrule. My power has weakened; it is now confined to this chamber. It is as the saying is… 'Together we are strong. Separated, we are broken.'"  
"For now, take my power with you, such as it is. Add it to yours." A medallion floated down from somewhere high in the darkness. It was golden, and shining with an inner light.  
"The Medallion of Light," said Rauru, as Link reached up and plucked it out of the air. "It has my power in it. Perhaps it will not help you much as yet. You must waken the other Sages, and we will help you enter Ganondorf's castle."  
"I understand," Link acknowledged. He saluted the Sage as a blue warp crystal formed around him. The world greyed out…

Link found himself standing on the Pedestal of Time, exactly where he had been what seemed like fifteen minutes ago. He swung his arms, looking at them curiously. He felt rested and completely ready to take on anything with his new strength.  
"I wonder what Rana would say if she knew. Maybe she'll come running in the way she said she would… I wonder if it's Sunday."  
"She'll probably say… well, I say you must have been working out those seven years. I wonder if she looks the same."  
"Of course she does. Only, she'll be taller." Link imagined the round face of his carefree, laughing friend, green eyes flashing and brown hair swirling… and tripping… He sat down on the Pedestal of Time to ponder his first move. He could go to Kokiri Forest and see Saria and Rana, or he could drop in on Malon, or see how the Gorons were doing, or talk to Shoza… He had a lot of choices.  
Navi interrupted his thoughts. "I wonder how things look outside? Rauru didn't sound too optimistic. I think you're needed right away, Hero."  
"Right."  
"But," Navi said, stopping him as he was getting ready to move, "don't wear yourself out trying to save the whole world in one day." He nodded.  
Link got up and strode towards the entrance. Halfway to the Door of Time, he stopped, getting a prickle on the back of his neck. He drew the Master Sword and his shield in one swift, fluid motion, and turned.  
Beside the Pedestal was standing a tall and slender young man, clad in tight fitting blue cloth emblazoned with the Eye of Truth, an ancient symbol, and with his head swathed in loose grey bandages. Blonde hair spilled out of his cap. His silent coming and ready stance seemed either ominous or magical to Link, depending on whether this stranger was a friend or enemy.  
"Greetings, Hero of Time," said the stranger. His voice was light and high-pitched. Link wondered if everyone was going to say 'good morning' in the same way to him.  
"I have been waiting for you. I am Sheik, the last of the Sheikah… I have come to help you on your journey. You should first go to the forest."  
"Good, I think we were going to go there anyway," said Navi.  
"Before you can go there, however, you must go to Kakariko to obtain an item that will allow you to enter the Forest Temple."  
"Enter the Forest Temple!" Link exclaimed. "That's not possible! The stairs are broken!"  
"Impossible for some… not for others. I for one, have been inside. For a small way." He turned slightly away. "I will see you there, I think. Hurry." He took a step backward.  
"Please, wait for a moment, Sheik," begged Link. "Can you tell me if my friends are all right? Saria, Rana, Shoza…"  
"I am sorry," answered Sheik. "I have seen Saria recently, and Shoza the Zora is coping with life, but I have not heard of your other friend for at least three years. Then she was in the forest, but I know she is not there now." He took a step backwards. "Do not expect me except when you see me. I will help you as I may. Farewell." Light flashed, and Sheik was gone.  
Link sighed to himself and walked out of the Temple. His mind was fully occupied with the day's startling events, and apprehension over both men's half-hidden warnings. He was not feeling quite as good as he had been. When he stepped out of the door, he felt even worse.


	10. Chapter 10: Horse

Chapter 10: Horse

Link stepped out of the Temple of Time and looked around bleakly. The bright, neat colours of Hyrule Castle Town had disappeared into a sea of rot and decay. Houses had crumbled under slimy timbers and brick and stone walls had collapsed. Shadows twisted in reclusive corners, cast by the buildings and the massive black clouds overhead. They were thickest to the north, where Link could see a tall black tower jutting into the sky.  
As he made his way over to the well in the town square, he heard something low and disturbing… like someone with a stomach-ache. Several someones, in fact.  
He looked around, but he couldn't see anyone… no, wait, he could. But they weren't people as such…  
One of them shrieked at him and he found that his body was frozen in place.  
"Redead!" cried Navi. Link gasped as best he could and wrenched himself into a run. Rolling swiftly past another one, he drew his sword and slashed at it. The creature didn't react, but the group of redead was growing and moving in his direction. Bile rose in his throat.  
"If we don't get out of here soon, we'll be dead!" Navi called. "Let's get out of here!"  
"But the people," Link began.  
"They don't seem to be here. Come on!"  
Link obeyed his fairy and ran for the gate.  
The chains of the gate had been shattered and were now rusted beyond repair. The drawbridge itself was lying in two pieces in a much shallower stream than it had been seven years ago.  
As the Hylian picked his way through the ford, he looked up and saw that Hyrule itself was not covered in perpetual thunderclouds. The sun was shining brightly, reflecting off the red roofs of Lon Lon Ranch nearby.  
Link smiled. "Time to meet all my friends."  
"How big do you suppose Epona will be?"  
"Don't you know?"  
"I'm only a fairy. I'm not a farrier."  
Link laughed at Navi's pun. "She'll be all grown up, just like me. Do you think Malon will let me ride her?"  
"Probably. I wonder if she let Rana ride one? Well, I don't suppose it can be too hard. I heard that real horsemen use their knees more than their reins, but you can ask Malon about that."  
"And Talon…"  
"Talon's probably got about five times as many chickens as he did last time. You'd better watch out for their toes."  
Link smiled and strode up the hill to the gate of the ranch. "I hope Rana is there today. Do you think the Princess will be there as well?"  
"Who knows?"

The Hero turned left and opened the door of the main house.  
There were no chickens, and no snoring. Talon was not there.  
Link bounded up the stairs and checked in the living room. No one was there either.  
"Hello?" Navi called timidly. They couldn't hear anyone.  
Link hurried back down and out, heading for the barn. Of course, chickens were a bit messy inside, even Talon's prized birds, and the barn was where most of the work was done anyway.  
"Hello?" he called in. He heard a muffled sob and a gasp. "Malon?"  
"Please go away," Malon's voice answered him tremulously.  
"Malon?" Navi called.  
"Naeri?"  
"No, Navi. Link's fairy."  
"You know, the fairy boy," Link said, smiling, trying to find Malon. She was hiding very well.  
"Oh!" There was a clatter, and the red-haired girl stood up from in an empty stall. "Rana's friend! Oh, Link, I'm so glad to see you… things are terrible!"  
"What kind of things?" Link asked.  
"Where's Talon? And… Ingo?" Navi asked. "Are the chickens okay, and the horses?"  
"Um… Daddy's gone. I don't know where. Ingo said he was going to take over the ranch because it was so incompetent, and next day Daddy…" She muffled another sob in her apron and sat down again on a milking stool. Link knelt in the hay beside her and waited until she could talk again.  
"The chickens are outside, and the cows and horses too… but… Ingo is cruel. He cheats visitors, and now they don't come, and if they find out and tell him, he doesn't let them come; and he doesn't let me help in the field but he is the only person in the corral with all the horses, and if I don't do exactly what he tells me he threatens to beat them with a rake, and I haven't seen Epona for so long… He's going to sell her to Ganondorf!" Malon put her head down and cried. Link patted her shoulder.  
"There's one more thing," Malon sniffled, after a long while. "I haven't seen Rana for a long time, either. Even longer than Epona. I don't know exactly how long, but it seems like about two falls ago she was here last, and that was before Ingo went wrong, because she would have chased him out if she had been here."  
Link couldn't help smiling. "Chase him out? Really?"  
Malon looked up, and smiled back timorously. "Really. She's a really good fighter now. She saved me from monsters once."  
"Imagine that," Navi said, pleased. "I hope she's okay, but if she's saving other people all by herself, she must be able to take care of herself."  
"Let's see… have you seen the Princess?"  
"No, not since I was ten once and there was a parade in the Castle Town… Um… I haven't ever been to the forest, so I don't know how your other friends are doing… Kakariko is doing all right, though. Most of the people from Hyrule Castle Town fled there when Ganondorf took over the castle, so… Oh! The healer lady, Lauri, she's all right. I saw recently. She's set up shop in Kakariko."  
"Well, that's good," Link said. "I'll go chase out Ingo in Rana's stead, okay?"  
"And save Epona!"  
With Malon in tow, he trotted out to the field where the horses were grazing… and one was bucking.  
"That's Epona!" Navi criedWhat looked like a clown was clinging for dear life to the saddlehorn, and in another moment was sent flying.  
"Is that… Ingo?" Link asked, incredulous.  
"Yes," sighed Malon. "In addition to being a most awful jerk, he has no fashion sense whatsoever. I'd rather you didn't cause any permanent damage, even so."  
"I can do that," the Hylian replied. "Does Epona still like that song you used to sing?"  
"Yes, but I'm not allowed…"  
"That doesn't stop me."  
Link ran into the field, Ocarina in his hands, and played the song. The tall horse seemed to calm down, not prancing quite so wildly, and looked at him with dark brown eyes.  
Link reached out to touch Epona's nose, and she nuzzled his hand, making soft horse noises.  
The touching scene was interrupted by a scream of anger. Ingo had recovered and was jumping up and down in rage. "What do you think you're doing, boy!?"  
"Er…" Navi began.  
"Get away from that horse! I'm training her personally for the Great Ganondorf!"  
"Well…" Link started.  
"Why does that horse even like you, anyway? She's never seen you before! Get out!" The irate fraud started towards Link, but the mare snorted and placed herself firmly between the Hylian and his antagonist. Epona pawed the ground irritably, tossing her head, and Ingo backed off slightly. His manner was subtly different.  
"Well, now, if she likes a complete stranger that much… How 'bout a wager?"  
"What kind?" Link asked cautiously.  
"How about if you beat me in a race? You win, and you can keep the blasted animal. I win," Ingo sniggered confidently, "and you help me train her for Ganondorf."  
"I'll do it!" Though Link's mind flew back to his unfulfilled intention to ask Malon how to ride…  
"Right," he mumbled to himself. "Here's the stirrup, and I should get on… like… Here we go!" He found himself astride, and rather proud of himself for his first time. "I still should ask Malon how to get on properly instead of like climbing a ladder. Now…"  
"Knees," Navi said.  
"Right."  
Link nudged Epona and she moved forward obediently, turning as he directed. He glanced at Malon and she gave him a shy thumbs up and a smile.  
He guessed he was doing all right and rode slowly over to her. Malon patted Epona's nose and whispered softly up to him: "When you race Ingo, don't be afraid to kick her to make her gallop. Ingo will cheat, you'll see."  
"But-"  
"Your boots won't hurt her at all. You're not wearing spurs… Just win the race, okay? You're doing fine."  
"I hope."  
Just as Malon hinted, Ingo counted to three and went on two and a half. Link kicked Epona as he'd been instructed and leaned forward. Slowly, he began to draw level with Ingo's horse.  
The ranch hand struck out at him with his riding whip, and Link ducked. Hugging Epona's neck, he urged her further forward. Ingo tried to block. Epona went the other way and flashed past in a quick burst of speed. Ingo reached as if to grab Epona's tail, and fell off his horse.  
Link immediately slowed down and stopped, waiting for Ingo to get back up.  
"Go!" Malon screamed at him. "What are you waiting for?"  
"If I go ahead of him, he'll say I cheated," Link called back evenly.  
"Well, look what he's doing now!" Navi hissed.  
"I know," replied Link, smiling at Ingo, who was trying to run on foot now. Link leaned forward, and Epona broke into a canter.  
"Only horse-racing here, Ingo!" he called as he passed the panting man.  
"You… you jerk!" screamed Ingo. "You won't get out of here alive!"  
"Are you just saying that…" Link began as he crossed the finish line.  
"…to be impressive?" Navi ended.  
"Because it's not working," Malon added.  
Ingo swung the heavy iron main gate shut with a triumphant sneer, smashing the lock.  
Link rode up close to him and stared at him impassively.  
"What?" The clown shifted uneasily.  
"What's that?" Malon darted forward and seized something around Ingo's neck. It came off with a snap and Ingo collapsed in an unconscious heap.  
"I don't know what that was all about," Navi said.  
"I think this thing might have been controlling him. He got it soon after he went bad… But how are you going to get out of here?"  
"Um… Can we jump the fence?" asked the fairy.  
"Yes… Do you want to try?"  
"Yes!"  
Riding Epona in a wide circle, Link turned back to the fence and nudged Epona, who began to run, faster and faster. She soared over the sealed gate in one glorious leap, and Link found himself laughing with delight.


	11. Chapter 11: The Shadow of Evil

Chapter 11: The Shadow of Evil

After stopping at Kakariko, where he remet Lauri, who fed him, and where he learnt a new magical song called the Song of Storms which abruptly drenched him, and where clues Sheik left behind led him to a shiny new weapon called the hookshot which was a sort of spring-loaded grappling hook, Link returned to the ranch with Talon following him dazedly. He had found the ranch owner napping dejectedly in an inn.  
Ingo was awake again, but it seemed Malon had been correct – the strange necklace had been controlling him, for now he was irritatingly cheerful and subservient. The girl was overjoyed to see her father, and they invited Link to sleep there that night.  
The next day, Malon officially gave Epona to Link. "She obviously likes you just as much as she likes me, for some reason… and you'll need her for your saving-of-the-world. So no arguing, got it?"  
"All right," Link said, laughing. "Don't panic. Epona will be safe with me. But can you teach me how to really ride the next time I come along? I need to go to the forest now and see if Saria and Rana are there."  
"Do that! Now!" Malon grinned as she said it, eager as he was to see her friend again.  
So Link rode to Kokiri Forest. When he got there, he dismounted and led Epona among the trees on foot.  
Abruptly, the pleasant mood of the forest was shattered as a huge Deku Baba, about as big as Link himself, attacked him. Epona reared and screamed, and Link swept his sword out to attack it. Fortunately, bigger did not also mean tougher, just meaner and toothier, and it soon fell in little pieces at his feet.  
They were almost at the village, and it did not look promising. His heart sank. He had lived in the forest all his life; a sick forest made him feel sick to his stomach. Nothing was really the same. He ran into the nearest house he could find, that being the Wise Brothers'. They all jumped up, startled.  
"Hi, everyone," said Link. "Is everybody safe?"  
"Who are you, mister?" asked the eldest brother. "You're not allowed in Kokiri Forest, even if you're wearing the same stuff. Hey! Where did you get a fairy?"  
"I'm Navi, remember?" said Navi indignantly. "And this is Link!"  
"Yeah, whatever," said the middle brother, not convinced. "Everybody's safe, because they're inside, out of the way of the monsters."  
"Saria?"  
"She's in the Sacred Forest Meadow. She went there when the monsters started showing up."  
"Rana's been missing, too," added the eldest. "She started growing up, though, for some reason."  
"I don't think she's Kokiri," whispered the youngest brother ominously.  
"Where was the last place- When was the last time you saw her?"  
"Don't know. Hope she's all right, even if she's not Kokiri. Maybe the forest is keeping her out, but it let you…and that beast… in."  
"That's my horse. I understand why you don't recognize me," said Link. "Thank you for telling me where Saria is. Honestly, I still don't recognize myself. I'm getting used to it, though." The brothers stared at each other. "Never mind, then. I'll go clean out the monsters.  
"Strange guy," said one of the Wise Brothers.

Link climbed up to the Lost Woods entrance and began to traverse the maze. By the Zora pool, there was a very short boy blocking the way.  
"Mido!" cried Link. "Believe it or not, I'm glad to see you alive."  
"What?" asked Mido, completely confused. "I've never seen you before in my life. You're not allowed through here. Saria told me not to let anyone go to the Meadow."  
"Mido," said Navi impatiently, "This is Link. Is he that grown up that you can't recognize him?"  
"Yeah, sure, it's Link!" said Mido sarcastically. "I'm not stupid."  
"Will Saria's Song convince you otherwise?" Navi chirped.  
Mido's face was a study in confusion, but he stepped aside. "Um… Well… I still don't believe you, so there! But… If you see Link… The real one… looks just like you, only he's much smaller, with a different sword and shield… would you tell him… I'm sorry I was so mean to him years ago."  
Link nodded. "I'll tell him." And he left him.  
"That's nice of him," said Navi."  
"Yes."  
They arrived at the meadow. Link heard strange grunting noises and drew his sword cautiously. He peered around the bend – and came face to face with a large, grotesque head. The troll-like Moblin growled and charged with its spear. Link brought up his shield, but was ploughed into a muddy pool. The monster peered at him for a couple of minutes and then turned away stupidly. Link felt behind his back for the sharp thing he had fallen on and touched the Hookshot. He came up on one knee and fired it.  
The thing worked just as he wanted it to, and the Moblin died. As Link continued, he peered around each bend carefully, hiding behind trees; the first Moblin had knocked the wind out of him and he didn't want that to happen again. However, he was still startled again several times.  
"I hate these things," said Navi. "They're going to give you a heart attack.  
Link trotted into the Sacred Forest Meadow.  
Saria's stump was empty. Link walked close to it, rather sadly, remembering when he had last seen her there. Abruptly he turned around.  
Sheik was there, watching him.  
"You have come," he said in his lilting voice. "The passage of time…" noting Link's glance towards the empty stump, "it must be unsettling… Especially in these dark places…"  
"Where is she?" asked the Hero.  
"I don't know. I believe she is inside the Temple."  
"I'm starting to guess she's the second Sage after Rauru."  
"You met Rauru already?" Sheik sounded delighted. "Excellent; then you do know what's going on." Sheik reached behind his back and pulled out a curved harp from somewhere. "My job here is to teach you the song that will bring you to this spot whenever you need to." He played a lilting tune in 3/4 time. Link played it back on his Ocarina. The octave was a bit difficult; to lift all four fingers without dropping the tiny instrument. His hands were bigger.  
Out of nowhere, the eerie sound of stringed instruments melded with the harp and ocarina. The tune danced and sparkled through the air.  
"That is the Minuet of the Forest," Sheik told him when they had finished.  
"It's very pretty," commented Navi. Sheik seemed to smile behind his high floppy collar.  
"You have… red eyes?" exclaimed Link suddenly. Sheik shrugged.  
"What of it? I'll see you around, preferably when you finish. Have a good time, now, solving puzzles." Another flash of light, and Sheik disappeared.  
Link grinned to himself. He liked this other young man. He brought out his hookshot and aimed it at a tree limb above the broken staircase. His feet were yanked off the ground and he dangled for a moment before disconnecting and landing firmly on the landing. He walked inside for the first time.

The antechamber of the Temple was dark and covered in brown, withered ivy. As he ventured further, he discovered both dark, cavernous halls where he could barely see where he was going, and bright, sunny courtyards that would normally have been extremely beautiful if they had not been so dry… and if the giant sized Babas hadn't been everywhere.  
And it was very quiet. It seemed the whole Temple was silent, except, in a duel with two hulking skeletons, for Link's shouts of exertion and Stalfos grunts. One of them fell in pieces, the Master Sword piercing its collarbone. The other one crouched behind its shield. Its sword swung out. Link jumped back just in time. There was no time to think; the other Stalfos fought fiercely. Duck, hop, swing sword, and hope not to get cleaved in half in the meantime.  
Finally the thing died, but the other one had somehow put itself back together. It was still missing a leg, so he dispatched it easily. The bones vanished and Link took a deep breath of relief, wiping his forehead.  
Navi applauded. "That was so amazing I can't believe it. You're even more super at this age!" Link grinned, running his hand awkwardly through his hair before turning to the treasure chest at the back of the room. He drew out a bow, and his face lit up the way a small boy's does on Christmas morning. He pulled out a quiver and strapped it on his back next to his sword sheath.  
"You're happy," commented Navi.  
"Yes, I am! This is beautiful and very useful. Since all my stuff fell out when I was in the time warp, I didn't really have a ranged weapon."  
"I know. I wonder where your stuff went."  
"Maybe we can ask Shiek, later."  
"Yes, let's get out of here."  
After wandering for a very long time, discovering odd little rooms and strange and vicious new monsters, they found themselves in an octagonal room with… handles.  
"Where could Saria be? We haven't seen any hint of her."  
"No," said Link, pushing one of the handles and turning the room sideways.  
"I hope no one's kidnapped her."  
"Yes," answered Link, jumping on a switch.  
"What's the matter with you?" asked Navi impatiently. "Why are you acting funny all of a sudden?"  
"I'm worried, that's all. If Saria is dead, then… then I'll kill every last monster in Hyrule. No, I would do that anyway."  
"I have no suggestions," Navi told him.  
The last room in the Temple was a round room, up circular stairs to a circular platform ringed by a red velvet cord. Spooky moonlit paintings of a woodland path were hung around the walls, each identical to the next.  
As Link passed to the centre of the ring, nothing happened. Saria certainly was not there either. He turned back to leave.  
The entrance was now blocked by spikes.  
A rolling baritone laugh echoed, bouncing off the paintings. Link whirled and looked up, in time to see a black horse and a strange looking Ganondorf leap over his head and gallop into a painting and down the path.  
Navi called shrilly to be heard over the deafening hoofbeats that filled the room: "It's only a shadow of Ganondorf! It's not the real Ganondorf."  
"That makes me feel a lot better, Navi," Link said half-jokingly, half-sincerely. He spun, watching all the pictures. He caught a glimpse of the horse, and nocked an arrow. A warp portal appeared, and the horse galloped through it; at least until Link's bow twanged and sent the arrow deep into the horse's chest.  
The phantom horse screamed and spun, disappearing into the painting.  
Link's eyes darted back and forth, watching for the next attack.  
He heard warp whirl from behind him and jumped around. His arrow missed in his hurry, and he flung himself to the side to avoid being trampled.  
His next try hit the shade. He caught sight of his opponent almost immediately, and watched him ride towards him.  
Warp whirl whined from behind him.  
"What!? Where!?" Link demanded of Navi, rolling to the side.  
"Oh, there must be more than one in the pictures, but they're not real! I'm sorry!"  
"Never mind it," Link assured her, adjusting his stance. He saw several Ganondorfs galloping through woodland and turned constantly, trying to keep them all in view.  
"Here!" called Navi, hovering next to one. His arrow was true this time. The horse burnt up in a blue flame.  
"Gah," grunted the fake Ganondorf. His voice was much deeper than the real Ganondorf.  
The real Ganondorf, who was watching from his tower, though Link didn't know it, shouted at the hero.  
"All right, kid, you killed the horse. See if you can beat… this!" The fake Ganondorf twirled its staff and a ball of dark energy appeared. He threw it at Link, who jumped aside. He remembered how much it had hurt when he had gotten hit before, just after he held his silence to protect Zelda. That was to hurt. This, here, was to kill.


	12. Chapter 12: The Depths of the Dragon

Chapter 12: The Depths of the Dragon

More and more balls of black magic flew through the air, and Link's energy began to be sapped by his constant dodging. One was heading straight for his midsection, and he swung the Master Sword in a last ditch attempt to block it.  
The ball bounced off the sword and hit Shadow Ganondorf. The clone moaned and sank to the floor. Link seized his chance and bounded up, slashing down with his sword. Ganondorf was hit many times before he rose off the floor again, throwing off his injuries with a laugh.  
"Yes, laugh," Link snarled at him, "but I will kill you in the end."  
Another ball was flung at him, and he swung back. So did Ganondorf.  
"Tennis," Navi labled the new battle style.  
"Baseball," Link retorted. He and his fairy didn't stop arguing until finally the ball hit Ganondorf again.  
The Master Sword blazed as it smashed through shadow bone and ghostly muscle.  
Shadow Ganondorf melted into a puddle covering the whole platform, and Link shifted his feet uneasily. It began to swirl in the centre like water in a bathtub after the plug is pulled, and then drained into nothingness.  
"Stupid clone," Ganondorf was muttering. "I'll get you next time, stupid hero…" His voice faded out as Link stepped into the blue portal that appeared.

The green-clad youth felt and heard his boots click down onto the grey platform in the Light Temple. A green glow poured out from the emerald platform in front of him, and someone short began to appear.  
Saria stood before him.  
"Hooray!" she cried, giggling. "I got into the Temple this morning, but then there was a Deku Baba that almost ate me, so I climbed down a dry well and hid. I'm not too smart, am I?" She laughed again. "I didn't know I was a Sage. I just knew I was the only Kokiri left after you left and Rana disappeared who was… um…Well, anyway, I knew it was the Forest Temple that was the problem!"  
Link had gotten a cold shock. "You don't know where Rana is?"  
Saria sobered. "I haven't seen her for two years. I think the Ironknuckles got her. I was in the forest, before the Wolfos and Babas took over, and I heard her Ocarina playing. It stopped suddenly, but I didn't know anything bad had happened until I got there. There were two dead," Saria shuddered, "Ironknucles and I never saw her again after that."  
"What are Ironknuckles?" asked Navi.  
"They're big, clumsy armoured guards of Ganondorf. They go everywhere, at least they used to. I haven't seen much of them recently, though…"  
"I'm forgetting!" she exclaimed, and laughed again. "I am really worried about her, but I'm so, so happy to see you alive and well. Here's the Forest Medallion!"  
An emerald green disk tumbled down from high above, and Link took it with both hands.  
Impulsively, Saria ran through the shallow water to his platform just as he gave his medallions to Navi. He knelt – he was quite startled at how small she seemed – and she threw her arms around him as far as she could.  
"Even though you're grown up now, and everything's changed so, we'll never, ever not be friends." Saria hugged him tightly, burying her face in his shoulder. He stroked her green hair.  
"No, we'll always be friends, even if I fall," he murmured.  
"You won't," Saria said.

Link floated down in the meadow of the Great Deku Tree. There was the petrified wooden colossus of the ancient tree.  
There was a little green sprout growing between the largest roots of the tree, by far the most vibrant plant he had seen all day. Link bent over it curiously, a tender expression crossing his face as he studied the beautiful green of the leaves.  
BOOM!  
A shock wave knocked Link over sprawling on to his back. He let out a startled yell that trailed off when he realized that no one was attacking him. He picked himself up.  
There was a funny little fat tree where the sprout had been. It had a face and was looking at him.  
"Boy, oh boy! Thank you, Hero of Time!"  
"Wha-?" Link peered at it through his blonde bangs, making him look extremely foolish. "A… plant is talking to me? I thought it was only the Great Deku Tree who could do that…"  
"Stop talking to yourself," Navi told him. "This is the new Great Deku Tree."  
"Yes, I am! I've been growing for seven years, but my physical growth was stunted by that evil power from the centre of the kingdom. So then you break the curse on the forest, and wake up the Sage, and boom! I grow. Properly."  
"That's great!" Navi cheered. "We're doing the right thing, Link! It's working!"  
"You have a long way to go, though," said the Deku Sprout. "And… and I have something very important to tell you."  
Link sat down cross-legged to listen.  
"A short time ago," began the Deku Sprout, "about eighteen and a half years, there was a great war in Hyrule. The Gerudos, led by their king, attacked Hyrule. Many knights died. There was chaos."  
"One day, a young Hylian woman arrived in the forest with her baby son. She was mortally wounded, but begged the Great Deku Tree, my father, to take the boy. Even the cost of her own life seemed not too great to ensure her son's safety."  
Link was silent, but his sky-blue eyes were wide.  
"I suppose you know what I am talking about," continued the Sprout. It paused. "She told the Great Deku Tree that the boy's father, a brave young knight, was dead because of the war. She died soon afterwards. The baby was brought up by the eldest of the Kokiri."  
"That was me," Link whispered, futilely trying to remember.

As Link curled up on his old bed, he looked at Navi.  
"Do you think the king would know of my father?"  
"I don't know if the king is alive," Navi answered hopelessly. "Go to sleep. We need to save the Gorons in the morning."  
Link smiled slightly and rolled over, breathing gently.

With a last pat to Epona's shoulder as she was stabled in Kakariko, Link turned to the mountain path and began hiking.  
The inside of Goron City was dark. Only a few lamps flickered, but there were quiet noises below. Link walked down the stairs, looking in every corner, but he couldn't find any Gorons, even following his ears.  
On the third level from the bottom, there was a quiet rumble. Link walked along, looking for the big Goron who used to roll and roll and roll along.  
"Oof!" Link grunted as he was knocked down by something. Something very hard and very heavy, like a large stone, had crashed into his midsection.  
"Are you all right?" Navi cried.  
"Yes," Link gasped, completely winded. He stood up and looked at what had knocked him down. It was a little Goron, curled up, trembling.  
"You won't eat me, will you?" it asked.  
"Why would I do that?" Link responded, bewildered.  
"Because that's what happened to Daddy and the others, sla- oops, I mean servant of Ganondorf!"  
Link chuckled a bit. "I'm not a servant of Ganondorf. I'm fighting him. Why don't you uncurl?"  
"No! You could be just saying that. I'm not even supposed to talk to strangers."  
"If you looked at me for just a second, you would see I couldn't be a minion of a dark lord."  
"Yeah!" Navi agreed. "What redead has a fairy partner?"  
The Goron uncurled a bit. Then it jumped upright. "Wow! Are you… like… the Link? With… the Navi?"  
Link's left eyebrow went up, but it was hidden by his hair. "Who told you about me?"  
"Daddy did!" squeaked the Goron boy. "My Daddy is the leader of the Gorons. He is old and wise. He told me that once, seven years ago, a little boy and girl came in and blew up all the Dodongos in Dondongo's Cavern. He said that he made the boy his Sworn Brother! He also said that the boy was dressed in green with a funny hat and a fairy called Navi with him. I met the girl and her fairy sometimes. Miss Rana came here a few times to chat. She's my Sworn Sister. She killed a Tektite for me once. It might have eaten me! Anyway, that's why Daddy named me after the hero."  
"Darunia… named you… after… me?" Link said slowly. The Goron nodded enthusiastically.  
"I'm Link! And you're Link! And I hope you go and rescue Daddy and the others now, because Ganondorf took them all away to the Fire Temple and is going to feed them to Volvagia once he captures me and the shopkeeper. He can't get Big Boy, though. Big Boy is toooo fat." Little Link giggled. Tall Link's mouth fell open.  
"They're in trouble?" He turned to run and search for the Fire Temple.  
"Wait!" cried Little Link. "I have some more things to say!"  
Link turned around.  
"Come to Daddy's room," said the Goron. "First, you, a Hylian, can't go in Death Mountain." He rolled down the stairs and waited for Link at the bottom. "Second, there's a really short way to get to Death Mountain Crater from Daddy's room."  
In Darunia's room, Goron Link began rummaging through a drawer for something.  
"This was Miss Rana's, when she came here," he said, handing Link a red, leathery tunic. "We made it for her. It might be a little small for you, but it will do for today."  
"What's it for?" asked Navi. Link took off his swordbelt and pulled it on over his Kokiri Tunic. It fit fine.  
'It must have been huge on Rana,' Link thought.  
"It protects you from great heat. It's made of Dodongo hide and Bomb Flower leaf fibres. It should also allow you to breathe well enough in the Crater. As for the passage…" He waved at the statue in the back of Darunia's room. "If you pull this, you can go through. There's a secret passage. I can't open it yet, but you might…"  
Link took hold of the statue's arms, braced his feet firmly against the ground, and pulled. The statue ground against the rocky floor.  
"That's good!" Navi called. Link stopped and looked. A steady, hot wind was blowing through a dark opening. Link waved at Goron Link and walked through.

Death Mountain Crater was dark. The darkness came from great clouds of dust and noxious gases spouting from two tall cones in a lake of lava. Link looked up and saw blue sky. He walked forward along a ledge until he came to a broken, wooden bridge. Link looked at the gap. He pulled out his Hookshot.  
He aimed at the far side of the bridge. The weapon yanked him off his feet, and he landed on his stomach on the rough wood. He sat up and rubbed his nose.  
"Look out, Link!" Navi called. Link jumped up and moved quickly, and then turned.  
Sheik landed with a thump where he had been sprawled.  
"Quick," he gasped in a muffled voice. "Get your Ocarina out. I've gotta teach you the song before I inhale or get heat prostration." Link grabbed his ceramic flute. Sheik had his harp out already.  
"It's called the Bolero of Fire," he said, and launched into it. It sounded like a march based on a minor triad, then a diminished triad, then minor again. It was difficult, but Link and his magic Ocarina played it first time.  
The eerie strings were back, along with percussion.  
Link looked at his Ocarina. He distinctly remembered missing at least one note… how had the music come?  
"See you at the Temple of Time," Sheik called, already back at the ledge. "I've got to get out of here. Good luck."  
"Thank you!" shouted Link and Navi; Sheik was already off, bounding from boulder to crag to exit from the tunnel at the top of the mountain. A thin silver chain flicked out rather like Link's Hookshot, wrapping around a rock and pulling him up.  
Link watched him go, and then looked for his destination. Ahead, there was a carved cave opening. He headed over to it and in, and found a ladder, which he naturally climbed down as quickly as he could.  
The ladder seemed to never end, even with his hurry. The dim light failed, but Link could see more below him. Navi flitted about nervously.  
Finally, he was down, far below the crater, and entering the Temple under the lake of lava above.

The entrance was quite grand. A great staircase led up to a wonderfully carved wall, with strange smiling faces on it, lit up by many torches. A door led left, and another led right. Link chose the left one.  
Platforms sticking out of the molten rock pooled on the floor were scattered, seemingly randomly around the room. There was a particularly wide one across from him, and a great door. And there…  
"Darunia!" Link shouted. The old Goron turned.  
"What?! Can my eyes deceive me? Is that really you, my Sworn Brother?"  
"It's me," Link said, normal volume now.  
"Pardon? Speak up, youngster," Darunia bellowed testily. Link jumped as close as he could, until he was almost at Darunia's platform, but he could not go any further.  
"It's me," repeated the Hylian. "Are you unhurt? What's going on? Little Link said something about…" he thought. "Ganondorf eating everybody…"  
Darunia laughed. "My son! Ah hah hah! He would say that. No, there's a great dragon named Volvagia. It is recorded in our history, but now Ganondorf has revived it. It is said that a Goron hero with the Megaton Hammer killed it and then stored the hammer somewhere in the Fire Temple. I searched, but I couldn't find it. I am going to go and face the dragon anyway. Would you go and look for it? I didn't look very well. I was afraid for my people. They will be eaten by the dragon soon if I don't go in."  
"I will look for it," Link promised. Darunia grinned and opened the door.  
"Wait!" the Goron leader exclaimed, turning back. He tossed Link a map and a magical compass. "You'll want these." He took a deep breath and walked in. Link set his teeth and turned away reluctantly.  
When Link returned after exploring the Temple from the highest cone to the lowest crevace, he had the massive, heavy Megaton Hammer with him. Navi carried it for him most of the time, so it wouldn't slow him down or tire him out. He also found a way to traverse the lava to the last platform.  
He took a deep breath the way Darunia had done, and entered the door.  
A vast circular chamber awaited. There was a round 'stage', or really big rock, in the centre. A couple of rocks poked out of a raging sea of lava, sloshing around the base of the platform. Link jumped onto one and then onto the middle.  
A large brown boulder sat up. "Link!" cried Darunia. "Do you have the hammer?"  
"Yes, do you want it?" Link asked, running to him.  
"Look out!" Darunia pushed the Hylian down. A roar and a hot fiery blast passed over him. Darunia bellowed.  
Link rolled and stood up. A long fiery serpent was attacking Darunia, who had curled up again just in time. He noticed for the first time long gashes in the thick rocky hide of the Goron's back.  
The dragon gave up and turned away. It flew in a circle around the ceiling. Link nodded to Navi, and she gave him the heavy hammer. Volvagia saw him and dove.  
Link jumped sideways out of the way, and Volvagia plunged headfirst into the ground. The young man went to the side of the arena, beside Darunia.  
"Do you want it?" he repeated.  
Darunia shook his head. "I saw that just now. You're doing far better than I am, youngster. Keep at it!" Volvagia's head came out of a hole in the ground close to them.  
Link swung the hammer with both hands and brought it crashing down on the fire-dragon's head. Volvagia roared, pulled back underground, and exploded out, sending rocks flying everywhere. Navi yelled and Link ducked.


	13. Chapter 13: The Realm of Silence

Chapter 13: The Realm of Silence

Link swung the hammer with both hands and brought it crashing down on the fire-dragon's head. Volvagia roared, pulled back underground, and exploded out, sending rocks flying everywhere. Navi yelled and Link ducked.  
The dragon flew around, spewing fire at Link. He jumped sideways and rolled, dropping the hammer. Volvagia dove. More rocks flew. Link grabbed the hammer. The dragon appeared again at the far side of the platform. Link ran. Volvagia breathed fire. Link rolled sideways.  
He jumped forward, trying to catch the dragon off guard. It wasn't. It swung its head, and its long fiery mane hit him and knocked him back. Link sprang up and smacked the hammer down on its head.  
"Are you trying to kill it or give it a headache?" Navi asked facetiously.  
"Navi!" Link snapped, trying to concentrate and not in the mood for jokes at that moment.  
"Sorry." Link rolled sideways to avoid another blast of fire. When Volvagia popped its head out of one of its holes, the Hylian was ready. When it swung its mane, he backflipped and bounced forward again, slamming the hammer dead on target. He was also getting tired. The heat was starting to leak through even his tunic.  
Happily, the next time he repeated the pattern, Volvagia erupted from his hole right away. Link crouched warily, but Volvagia burst into flames overhead. Nothing but a few ashes fell to the platform.  
Darunia uncurled. "My, that was exciting. Thank you, Brother. Now Volvagia is dead forever. Let's go to the Sacred Realm." Before Link had time to blink, he was enveloped in blue and transported magically to the grey pedestal.  
Across from him flared a burst of red, and Darunia materialized on his own pedestal.  
"Brother! You have once again saved our people. Seven years ago, we were in need of food. Today, we almost became food. If not for my son and a few other hardy souls, we all would have been toast for that monster last week."  
"Darunia, how long has this… expulsion been going on?"  
The bearded Goron frowned. "Ganondorf had never been friendly towards us, as can be expected. He can't stand plain, honest people like us. But he couldn't do anything to us until just recently when he revived Volvagia. Even though he comes from a desert country, he can't stand the heat of Death Mountain, and he never knew that we could make protective tunics; he never saw Rana."  
"Yet, somehow he managed to call the dragon…"  
"Yes. He hovered over the crater and cast his spells up there, where he can still breathe the air… and we could do nothing." Darunia shook his head in regret. "I can only thank you again, Brother, that we lost none of our people."  
"We're just happy to have come in time."  
"Yeah!" said Navi.  
The Goron leader smiled broadly and drew himself up. "Now, my friend, it is time. Seven years ago, I gave you the greatest gift of our people. Now I give you only the greatest gift I can give. Bear it well." He raised his arms and Link, in turn, raised his.  
A glittering scarlet medallion twinkled down from the darkness above and into the Hylian's hands.  
"I give you my strength, Hero. Restore the land! Farewell!"  
"Farewell, Darunia!" cried Link and Navi as they were returned to the ordinary world.

Link warped to the Lost Woods and went to sleep in his own bed. The forest was recovering; the leaves were greening in the summer sun. In the morning there was a message on his pillow asking him to come to the Temple of Time.  
The next day, he called Epona and went there. He walked straight into the back room; a figure stood there.  
"Hi, hero!" the young man greeted him. "You came. Good. Let's learn a song."  
"Where does this one warp me to?" Link asked.  
"Right here. Aside from the fact that it's pretty –"  
"And I like pretty tunes," Navi interrupted.  
"- it's also useful." Sheik played a ringing, clear melody. Link played it back easily.  
"Lovely," Link commented afterwards.  
"Isn't it?" Sheik seemed to smile behind his collar. "It is my favourite of the legendary songs… It makes me think of home, the way the kingdom used to be…" He seemed to be remembering something rather sad. Link waited silently, hoping the young man could feel his empathy.  
Sheik shook his head ferociously. "Anyway," he said, "the next temple to free is up to you. Do you have somewhere you want to go?"  
"What are our choices again?" Navi asked.  
"Water, Shadow, or Sand."  
"I'll go to the Water Temple. I'd like to see the Zorans again too."  
"That may not be easy," Sheik remarked pensively. His voice turned grim. "I think most of them have been frozen. An unnatural winter has fallen upon Zora's Fountain, likely Ganondorf's magic. I help out whenever I can, but I have too many places to be to help them all the time…"  
"I understand," Link said. "I'd better get to work, then!"  
"See you there!"

Link hurried out to Hyrule Field and mounted Epona; she was grazing quietly where he had left her. They cantered to Zora's River, crossing it, Epona often swimming up to her knees. At last, they came to the cliff with the waterfall and the stone arches, where Link left Epona and climbed up to stand on the carved Triforce symbol.  
The water coming over the cliff was merely a trickle; icicles dripped from the top edge. Anxiously, Link jumped to the tunnel entrance. He walked slowly through the corridor, looking from right to left at the iced stone walls.  
"I can see what Sheik means… this is not good. I wonder if anyone's still here…"  
They came to the great cavern, and found it frozen solid. Not a drop fell from the delicate sprays of the waterfall. As Link looked closer into the blinding whiteness, his eyes widened. "Navi, there are Zorans frozen in! That's…"  
"That's sad…"  
Link hurried up the stairs to King Zora's chamber. The guard was frozen at her post. The king was frozen in a big lump, but the entrance to the fountain was still open. The shivering Hylian took the opportunity to search the rest of the Zora's home, trotting through tunnels and passages still lit by magical, yet weak torches. In the living chambers connected to the corridors, there were hundred of Zoras, curled up in what Link supposed were sleeping pools – like beds, but more comfortable for Zorans. Outside of one room, he paused. His sharp ears had caught a sound. It sounded like a strangled gasp, a weak splash…  
Link flung open the door and charged in. There were about five torches arranged in a circle around a sleeping pool, which hadn't been frozen in yet, and a Zora coiled into a fetal position, shivering uncontrollably. His scales were bluish-white, not naturally, but from cold. Even as Link watched, ice was forming on the surface of the pool. Struggling for air through chattering teeth, the Zora shoved it away. He looked up.  
"Rana? You came back?"  
Link, horrified by the spectacle, scooped the Zora up in his arms and hurried out. He ran flat out to the river, slipping and sliding on the slick surface. Once in the sunshine, on the grass, he stopped and sat down, rubbing the Zora's arms roughly to restore warmth and circulation.  
The Zora snuggled close to him. "Ah, Ruto, you shouldn't be saving me… I'm not worthy…" All of a sudden, he sat up and flung his arms around Link. "Ruto! I love you!"  
"Whoa, Shoza!" barked Link mock-irritably. "I'm not Ruto! Don't kiss me, finboy!"  
"Huh?" Shoza sat back, startled by the tenor voice, scrubbing his arms and spreading his fins to catch sunshine. "Uhh… Rana?"  
"You said that before. I'm not Rana, it's me, Link! Remember, the boy who was with Rana. You're probably confused by the green shirt. …Are you sick? You seem delirious…"  
"Zoran hypothermia," moaned Shoza. "That is, I'll be all right in about an hour, after I have a chance to defrost. Dude, it's been seven years! Are you sure it's you?"  
Link laughed.  
"Of course it's him!" Navi chirped. "And we've come to save everyone, so just hold tight. How many others are still… mobile?"  
"Just me here, I think. I was trying to unfreeze the Domain, but you see, you need fire – blue fire, magical – from a cave in the back of the Fountain, and I couldn't get it. I mean, I got in, but it was… hard…" He pondered for a moment. "Lord Jabu-Jabu has gone into hibernation at the bottom of the fountain. There are some ice floes that we pushed into a sort of path to get to the cave, 'cause it's above the water level, and it's a good thing he's not there 'cause his big tail would be right in the way."  
"Who's we?" asked Navi.  
"Um, some guy named Sheik. And me."  
"That's what I thought," Link said. "He's been helping me get around, and he mentioned you at a previous meeting. He got in?"  
"Yeah, and he had bottles, too, and mine're all frozen in somewheres. So, we filled 'em all and tried to unfreeze people… we succeeded with some, and they all got out double-quick… they're somewhere downriver now. If you head to the desert, you might find them. I can't blame them for getting away from all this…"  
"And the princess? King Zora's still stuck…"  
"Yeah, old fatty just froze back as soon as we unfroze him. He had just time to say 'Good job' before his eyes glazed over again." Shoza half-grinned. "He's too fat to get out. And then I think the Princess is at the Temple in the lake, so she's okay. Oh, and if you're looking for Rana, right, well, we haven't seen her for a couple of years… she'd come around regularly, and we gave her a blue tunic for breathing underwater, so she could swim with us, and I think it's still in the front guard's post. Well, she's disappeared…" He smiled a little. "She called me finboy too, when she was annoyed with me, y'know that?"  
A blue-green head popped out of the water. "Shoza, man! You're still alive!"  
Shoza smiled. "Barely, Bitu. If it hadn't been for the Hero of Time, Link here, I wouldn't be. Link, this is one of my buddies, Bitu. He still hangs around a bit."  
"I keep tellin' ya, you hang around this ice pit and you'll be an icicle! But, do you listen? No!" The new Zora was grinning his face off. "Thanks, Hero."  
"Hey, I've got to get into the Water Temple, too. Ruto might not be able to handle it on her own. Do you have any advice?" the Hylian asked.  
"Well, in the cave…" began Shoza.  
"The cave behind the Fountain…"  
"There's supposed to be a pair of boots…"  
"Hyrulian boots, made of iron."  
"They'll work. The gate to the Temple's too far underwater to get to."  
"For a Hyrulian. I mean, Hylian. You're a Hylian, right?"  
"Yeah. I see. Thanks, guys. Take it easy, okay, Shoza?" Link rose to go. "I'll see what I can bring you in the way of blue fire, if you like…"  
"Sure, that'd be great. If you're going to the Temple, then together you and the Princess can break the curse for sure, and restore summer to this frozen dump."  
"It's not a dump!" Link and Navi exclaimed at the same time. "It's really beautiful, even frozen like this…" Navi expanded.  
Link smiled at the Zoras.  
"Hey, man, you be careful too, okay?" Shoza pleaded. "Oh, and you can't use the secret tunnel for obvious reasons. You'll have to take your lovely horse, there, and ride across the country. After I'm better, we'll get started on thawing the place out. I'll be a lot more careful and a lot less stubborn from now on, too, so don't worry about me."  
"Good luck!" added Bitu.  
Link nodded and trotted off to the Fountain.  
Within the ice cave Shoza told about, it was bitterly cold. Link and his fairy had quite the discussion about it, while Link fought off ice keese, ice demons, and dodged falling icicles.  
"Link, I think that this cave is the source of the cold."  
"Yes. It's cold in Zora's Domain, but colder in the Fountain and this place is utterly bone-chilling."  
"And Shoza went in to get the fire…"  
"Poor guy."  
"Yes, Zorans are susceptible to changes in temperature. They overheat or… or…"  
"Catch hypothermia."  
"Yep."  
Link fought a pack of white Wolfos in a small chamber. When they died, he was able to kick open the treasure chest nearby. "Here's the boots. You'll have to take these too, Navi. If I wear them all the time…" Navi teleported them onto his feet instead of his forest boots. "Yes. They're way too heavy." He tried to run and managed a slothful shuffle. "I'm going to trip from trying to go too fast."  
He did so, and they both laughed.  
"Let's get out of here!"  
They staggered – well, Link staggered and Navi fluttered – out of the cave and back to through Zora's Domain. Shoza and Bitu were eating some sort of Zora food that looked like seaweed. He nodded to them, and Shoza stopped him.  
"Hey, Link, before you ride off into the sunset, take Rana's Zora tunic. It will come in handy, I promise. It's just in the little room off to your right when you…"  
"Got it," Link said, reappearing with the blue cloth wrapped around his hand. "Thanks. Very much. See you later!" He mounted Epona, trotting down river.  
They crossed the land of Hyrule and came to Lake Hylia at dusk. The lake level was low, just a pond, but that was no surprise. The river was a mere stream, and the Zora's Domain passage was frozen right up to the mouth. Leaving his mare on the bank, he walked out onto the boardwalk to the little island with the tree, feeling sure that Sheik would be there. A crow attacked him, but he beat it off crossly.  
"You bothered by those pests of Ganondorf?" came the young man's voice casually from behind him. Link turned to see the bandaged, blue-clad youth climbing up the steep bank of the island. He was soaked.  
"Looks like you got here the hard way," Link commented amiably.  
"Sure, horseboy. Song? "  
"Right."  
Sheik played a lovely, rising melody.  
"No fair, you're using accompaniment," Navi giggled. Sheik raised an eyebrow mock-angrily.  
"Do you want to use the song or not?"  
"Oh, yeah, whenever he plays anything there's always this magic music that comes out of nowhere and fills in the harmony."  
"Navi, shut up. I'm trying to learn it." Link played it back with a few false starts, but eventually got it. Then he added vibrato.  
"Nice," Sheik said. "How're the Zorans?"  
"I helped an old friend of mine, Shoza… heard you're a good fire-carrier, though King Zora couldn't take advantage of that. Um… Ruto's apparently in the Temple right now. Where is it, by the way?"  
"Right under your feet," grinned Sheik. Link looked around.  
"Link! Don't act daft. The entrance is over here," Navi pointed out. Link climbed cautiously down the side of the island, using his hand to steady himself, and saw a portcullis underwater.  
"Oh, right. What… Bitu said."  
"Well, let's go!"  
"Right. Goodb-" Sheik was gone, and Link bit off his farewell as he realized it. "Where'd he go?"  
"He keeps vanishing," Navi complained. "Maybe he's going to go see Shoza, or Darunia."  
"Or Saria." Link smiled. "I think this gate needs activation. What do you think that jewel has something to do with it?"  
"Well, if you hit it, and it breaks, the Zorans will be really mad at you."  
"Well, if that's not it, then what is it?" Link demanded. Navi flew around, trying to find something, but couldn't and said nothing. Link jumped in the water and swam to the other side of the pool to get a better shot. There, he took his bow and fired an arrow at the jewel. It came and rose to the surface, looking like a large, shining fish.  
"You broke it!" Navi cried triumphantly, and horrified.  
"No, see, there's the gate opening. Boots?" Link put the Zora tunic on over his Goron tunic, but pulled the Kokiri tunic on top. With the iron boots on his feet, he waded slowly into the water. He took one last gulp of air, and ducked his head under, seeing if he could breathe thanks to the tunic's magic. It worked perfectly, and Link almost laughed in delight. If only he could keep under like a Zoran instead of always floating to the surface, or using the great heavy boots that he must! If only he could fly gracefully under the water like the Zoras…  
Link shook himself out of his sudden longing and entered the gate, walking until he saw a wall ahead, and an opening above. He gestured to Navi, and she removed the heavy boots.


	14. Chapter 14: The Desperate Battle

Chapter 14: The Desperate Battle

The interior of the Water Temple was rich and gorgeous. Carved intricately from blue marble and inlaid with bronze and gold, the walls reflected the water's reflection of torchlight. A massive pillar took up a great deal of the space of the main chamber, which was almost completely filled with water; yet the room had the impression of vast space, though the top of the hill was only a few meters above their heads.  
Link stared around in wonder, a smile passing over his face. Navi flew forward into the open space and turned back.  
"It's very pretty. Rana would love it. Ruto, too…"  
"I think so," Link answered, and dove in headfirst. Swimming down to the bottom of the chamber, where he immediately planned to start, was out of the question, so with a bubbly sigh he asked Navi for his heavy boots.  
As he sank, he caught glimpses of corridors and walkways, submerged but probably very convenient for a Zora. Down on the bottom, he clunked around slowly, seeing the many doors and yet more corridors branching off from the main room.  
He picked the closest entrance, but the door was locked. So was the next one, and Link stopped to rest his legs for a few moments before going to the next one.  
That hallway was not blocked by anything at first, but eventually he came to an empty room behind a door at the end of it. He was going to turn around when Navi tapped his ear.  
"Look up!" she chirped. Link did so, and saw he could still keep going. It must have been obvious for a Zora, but a Zora he was not, though he was still going to do his best.  
As he pulled himself out of a well-like vertical passage, he heard a squeal and his eyes widened. He straightened up just in time for a tall, slim, lovely Princess Ruto to fling herself bodily into him and knock them both back into the water.  
"Link!" she screamed happily, wrapping her arms around his neck. "You came back! And you have very good timing, too, although you're a terrible fiancé to just disappear like that and leave me waiting for seven years. Why, I'm seventeen and we haven't even been on one date! It's just awful! And Zora's Domain is frozen, so there's nowhere with enough water to have a decent date anyway, and Daddy's stuck, so he can't approve."  
Link's eyes were round with astonishment, making him look extremely young and foolish, but he was able to climb out of the water again.  
When he was standing again, Ruto managed to back him against the wall with her arms around him.  
"And let's see, so now you are here, so you can help me free the Temple from the clutches of those awful monsters that took it over, and then do whatever it is that heroes to do free the land from evil like Ganondorf, and then we can get married!"  
"Wait, Ruto. Slow down! You… t-think I'm e-engaged to you?" he stammered out.  
"Well, duh! I gave you the Zora's Sapphire."  
"But… I didn't understand then… I… Princess, I would help you even if you hadn't given it to me. I needed it in order to unseal the Master Sword, so I could defeat Ganondorf. I honestly didn't know I was going to disappear for seven years."  
"So… now that you know, can we get on with our current quest, darling?" She whipped away from him and swirled gracefully over to an intricate carving on the wall. "I know that to get where we need to go next, I need to change the water level, and that this carving is the lock and that the Princess of Hyrule's Melody is the key, but I can't make it work. What do you think?"  
"Maybe it needs the Ocarina of Time," Navi suggested. Ruto pouted.  
"Well, we don't have that."  
"Actually, we do. Let me try," Link said, pulling it out and stepping close to the panel.  
After he finished the last note, there was a swish, and the water behind him drained away. To where, he had no idea, though he was curious. His mind was more occupied with getting Ruto's perceptions straight without mentally damaging either of them more than necessary…  
"That was neat! Let's go!" Navi sang, zooming ahead. "Wait. Where are we going?"  
"How do we get down?" Ruto asked. "We can light the magic torches out in the main hall now, but if we break our necks getting down, it won't be worth it. I'd use the Longshot, but a strange black shadowy creature just snatched it out of my hand when I wasn't looking. Then it darted off where I couldn't follow. And anyway I wouldn't be able to use it here. How do we get down again?"  
Link looked around for somewhere to dangle his hookshot from, just in case, but he couldn't find anything close to the hole. "Just follow me," he said at last, and jumped.  
He landed safely, and turned to catch Ruto. Somehow, she landed in a heap in his arms, in the general position he thought might be safest. Apparently she thought so too, and more, because she tittered and kissed his cheek.  
His face immediately flamed red.  
He put the Zora princess down and started walking back out to the main chamber, pushing his wet hair out of his eyes. She followed him, babbling the same way she used to. He missed Rana more than ever.  
Travelling around the dungeon, though Ruto had unlocked a great deal of the locked doors, he still found some places she had not, and discovered at least one whole room she hadn't even known existed. The Zora, on the other hand, actually impressed him with her elbow-fin boomerangs, though when he asked her how she could detach fins, she winked and smiled at him secretively.  
When they reached a new passage that branched in two paths, Link went left, and persuaded Ruto to go right.  
After dodging many traps, climbing up waterfalls, and finding out simply how to move forward, he opened a door and found himself outside.  
"What?" Navi said. Behind them, the door locked, trapping them out of the Temple. Ahead there was a short wall of sandstone with another door, also locked. The space between the two doors was covered in silvery water, mirroring the silver-grey clouded sky. Halfway between the two doors there was a small, dead tree on a sandy island. A few bits of old pillars stuck out of the water, and the wind made ripples around them.  
Link walked forward carefully, relaxing a bit as he found the water was only ankle deep all the way through. The shallow lake seemed to stretch for eternity on all sides, and he wondered where in Hyrule he was, and how he was going to get back.  
Something stirred in his wake as he made his way over to the other door.  
Link sighed as he tested the barred door. No, he was stuck, all right. He turned around to go elsewhere… and forgot where he had been intending to go.  
A black-clad figure with crimson eyes waited for him under the tree. He stared silently at Link.  
Link walked closer, cautiously, drawing his sword.  
The figure drew its obsidian blade in return.  
Darkness seemed to radiate from the black Hylian like heat off a fire; Link attacked first, with a strong downward stroke. Two shouts rang out as the other parried perfectly, and sparks flew.

Half an hour later, Link was approaching exhaustion. He had tried every technique he knew, every weapon he had, and every time, Shadow Link batted the attack away as casually as a leaf. Both were soaked. Link was bleeding in countless places, and the Master Sword sagged in his weary hand.  
Shadow Link circled him as swiftly as when they had begun, a slight mocking smile on his face. Navi was too tired to follow and fell to the water; Link swung his shield around just in time to block the blow and counterattacked pathetically.  
He was as shocked as his enemy when he felt his blade connect and slice. Shadow Link cried out in a deep voice and collapsed into nothing.  
"Was that it?" cried Navi in a relieved voice, fluttering up to Link's shoulder. He pulled himself to his feet with more energy and looked around. The doors had not unlocked…  
A sudden whoosh behind him was not much of a warning, but Link took it and rolled forward, just in time. Shadow Link's sword thudded with a chunk into the sand behind him.  
"Navi," Link panted, "don't help me target him. It's as if he can read my mind through you."  
"All right. Will you be all right?"  
Link nodded hopefully and went back to work.  
Shadow Link was not smiling anymore, and when Link cut him again, his deep scream held more anger than pain. The hero, from experience, spun around and found his adversary right where he expected him to be. He was even prepared for the flurry of blows that angry Shadow Link rained down on him, and jumped backwards so his shield wouldn't get beaten out of his hand.  
Once again, he caught Shadow Link with the Master Sword, and the shadow vanished. This time he did not reappear right away.  
"Where is he?" panted Link.  
A maddened yell behind him, again, told him. Link whirled and was knocked off his feet by the dark man, hurling himself at the Hylian bodily. They fell to the sand. Both swords were accidentally flung away. Shadow Link hit Link over the head with his black shield and groped for his sword.  
"Link!" screamed Navi, and her voice brought his consciousness back to the surface. Shadow Link was kneeling on his chest, his sword poised to strike. Wide blue eyes stared into furious ruby ones.  
Then Link let loose Din's Fire with his last strength.  
Shadow Link was blasted away, wailed, crumpled, and was gone.  
Link tried to get up and failed. His attention was distracted by the open space around him; it was open no longer. It was a wide chamber of blue marble, much the same as the rest of the Temple. There was no tree in the centre, and both doors were now unlocked.  
"I'm too tired, Navi," Link whispered. "I need to rest."  
"You can sleep," Navi whispered back. "We're safe now. I'll keep watch."  
"No, you sleep too. It must be late at nigh…" Link trailed off in the middle of a sentence and Navi saw that he was asleep. She smiled. He was still handsome, soaking wet, his blonde hair in his eyes, his mouth hanging open, sprawled on his back where he had fallen.  
She settled herself comfortably on his chest near his heart and fell asleep with the comforting rhythmic thud in her little fairy ears.


	15. Chapter 15: The Deathful Water

Chapter 15: The Deathful Water and Avoiding Marriage

The first thing he noticed when he woke up was that his back hurt. He had been sleeping on his scabbard.  
The second thing he noticed was that all his cuts and other injuries were very painful.  
The third thing he noticed was that he felt adequately rested to continue adventuring for some time now, even energetically. He was about to get up and find his scattered gear when he noticed a fourth thing: Navi was asleep on his chest.  
She looked sweet, as he peered down at her; a little ball of light with folded butterfly wings. Gently he stirred, and she woke and flew up.  
"Good morning," he said to her.  
"Hello!" she chirped back. "Is it time to go?"  
"Yes. I feel much better."  
He sheathed his sword and slung his shield on his back and turned to the door closest to him. It was the wrong one, but he soon corrected that, and discovered a little room with only a treasure chest and a trap door. In the chest was a familiar looking weapon – another Hookshot.  
"It's different," Navi said immediately.  
"It is?"  
"This one's longer. Look at the chain!"  
"Oh."  
He kept the other one with him anyway, perhaps to give to Ruto. He opened the trap door and saw darkness below, and heard and smelt loudly rushing water.  
Carefully, he let himself down over the edge, but his feet touched nothing. There was nothing in the room that he could attach the hookshot to, so trusting in his ears, he let himself go.  
His boots smacked hard into rock and he fell on his face, scraping his cheek. "Ow!"  
"Sorry," Navi said, trying to light up the tunnel. Water rushed past him and away down natural winding tubes.  
"It's not your fault."  
He was on a ledge beside the wide river, plunging from a height in an impressive waterfall. The air was freezing. He saw whirlpools in rapids a little further down, and made a note to avoid those. There was no way off the ledge; no where to go except downstream. He jumped in the water.  
It was pretty cold, but not much colder than the air above, so he swam casually along for a bit, drifting rapidly with the flow.  
"Help!" He heard Ruto's scream. She was caught in a whirlpool, struggling not to get dragged underwater and dashed against the rocks. Link started, and he swam diagonally for her.  
He grabbed her hand. His own body was being dragged downstream, he was swimming downstream, and she was caught in the powerful eddy.  
Ruto was wrenched from the whirlpool, and they drifted downstream together.  
"Oh, thank you!" she yelled above the water noise.  
"No problem," Link answered. Ruto frowned prettily.  
"That's not what you're supposed to say," she told him.  
"What am I supposed to say?"  
"And where did you find the Longshot? Oh, and I fell down the bottomless waterfall and ended up here."  
"The Longshot? I had to fight a shadow of myself to get it. Do you want it back?"  
"Oh, no. You can keep it, at least for now. If you're the hero, then you'll need it later, after this temple. And… maybe we should just call it the hookshot. That's what you like to say, isn't it?"  
"It is!" said Navi with a long-suffering sigh.  
Link chuckled as he climbed out of the water and gave Ruto a hand.  
"Would you like the 'little' hookshot, then?" he suggested.  
"Sure, if it's fine with you."  
"It is. It's not like Navi will be using it or anything," and Link grinned as Navi yelled indignantly at him. He handed the little hookshot to Ruto, who had to carry it in her hand.  
They found themselves back in the entrance hall, third level, with the entrance on their right. To their left was a ledge they had never been able to climb up to, but now… The Hylian jumped to the shelf of the central pillar. The Zora followed.  
Link hookshotted across, then tossed the tool back to Ruto. She dove into the now-raised water to catch it, and then came to join him.  
He opened the door at the back and drew his sword.  
The next room had no monsters; only a steep slope with spikes passing back and forth on it.  
"This is going to be tricky," Link announced, and took a running dash up the slope. He avoided the spikes, but slid down when he got about halfway up. Ruto tried next, and made it to the top, weaving among the spikes.  
"How'd you do that?" asked Navi.  
Ruto grinned. "Sticky feet. Well, not exactly. I guess I just have more traction than those boots do."  
Link sat down and took off his boots. Then he took off his socks. They were white with green toes.  
"Shall I take them?" asked Navi.  
"That's okay." He ran up the slope as fast as he could; a spike grazed his calf but he made it to the top in one piece.  
He sat down again and put his socks and boots back on. The others waited patiently until the green-and-blue-clad hero opened the final door.  
The door slammed shut behind him before Ruto could come through.  
The boss chamber looked like a swimming pool. A pretty swimming pool, but there were large spikes sticking out from the walls all the way around the room, excepting the door by which he had come in. The pool had four platforms in it.  
Link waited, sword and shield up, but nothing happened. He slowly relaxed. He hopped onto one of the platforms, and his foot slipped into the water.  
Nothing happened again. Link turned, to go back to the ledge around the rim and start looking around the walls for a switch or something, and yelled. A giant watery blue tentacle was swaying behind him. He dove for the 'shore' and made it just in time; he heard a wet smack as the tentacle slapped the place he had been standing.  
"Link!" shouted Navi. "There's a thing down there…"  
Link grabbed his hookshot. "It's as good a thing as any to attack. Can you help me?" he shouted back, dodging more tentacles.  
Navi obligingly flew close to the nucleus, and Link's finger pressed the hookshot switch. The point lodged in the orangish-pink thing, dragging it out of the water and close to Link, who stabbed it with his sword. He only hit it twice before it wiggled back into the water and began chasing him around the outside of the room with blue tentacles.  
Two came at him from opposite directions. Link braced his legs, preparing to jump into the air or duck. He jumped, but one caught him anyway and twirled around his middle, hoisting him high into the air. Unnerved and disoriented, he clutched at it, but his hands sank into it, since it was only water. It shook him violently, making his head toss back and forth until he thought his neck would snap, and then hurled him into the wall. He slid down to meet needle-sharp spikes that tore his tunic. He hauled himself up with a groan, supporting himself on the wall with gauntleted hands.  
Spinning around, back on the attack, he hit it where it hovered in the water with the hookshot, and slashed it with all his considerable strength. It quivered like jelly, bouncing desperately away from him. It was life and death for both of them, Link knew, which was a feeling new to him; he hadn't felt it even when fighting Shadow Link or Queen Gohma.  
When the tentacles came again, he was better prepared, and did a handspring away over one. It didn't catch him. He managed to catch and hit the nucleus again.  
Then, he tripped and fell in the water. It was like it was alive, trying to force its way down his throat; the Zora tunic helped, but he was still suffocating in cold wetness. When it released him slightly, he clawed his way to the edge and clambered out with almost hysterical energy. Again, he targeted the nucleus and slashed it with his sword. It bounced away, tiredly, and he hit it again and again.  
It fell into the water, which swirled into one large enormous tentacle that reached to the ceiling. Link watching it rise up, bracing himself for a dodge, readying his hookshot, but then…  
The tentacle didn't fall, didn't get any shorter, but the water level in the pool began to go down. Like it was being sucked up by a cloth, it shrank until the bottom of the pool was dry, and the tentacle still hung in midair, the nucleus at the centre of it. Even that, now resembling a giant amoeba, began to shrink until the water was all gone. Then, with a pop, the nucleus burst.  
Link relaxed and let his shoulders slump in exhaustion. A portal appeared in the centre of the dry reservoir. He let himself down and walked into it, swaying slightly with weariness. He welcomed the weightless feeling the warp crystal gave him.  
Appearing in the Temple of Light, he straightened himself and waited, facing the podium of water. Ruto rose out of it.  
She sighed and swooned, clasping her hands together. "Oh, Link… You're so _handsome_." Link shrugged noncommittally. "So is Sheik… can you thank him for me? It's my duty as princess, after all, since he helped my people." She sighed some more. "Unfortunately anyway, as Sage of Water, I have to stay here now at least until Ganondorf is dead, so I can only give you my everlasting love…"  
Navi gulped quietly.  
"Oh, yes, and the Medallion of Water." Ruto raised her arms and the Medallion tumbled down into Link's hands.  
"Thank you," he said.  
"Now, love, would you kiss me?" Ruto asked sweetly, leaning forward across the gap between platforms.  
"Uh…" Link stalled, and the warp crystal formed around him and took him to the Lake Hylia warp pad.  
Sheik was there, sitting on a rock, playing his harp gently as he watched the eastern sky turn pink, waiting for the sun to rise. The lake was full, rippling gently at the edge of the grass of the island.  
"Hey," Link said wearily. He flung himself down beside the Sheikah.  
"You look awful, Hero," said the other cheerfully. "How's Ruto?"  
"Just as romantic as ever. She says thank you for helping the Zoras."  
"Mm. I see. If you see her before I do, tell her she's welcome."  
"Sure. I hope I don't, though." Link leaned back and stretched. "I don't know that I want to get involved with her."  
"Yeah, I understand. Anyway, you should go to… your home, or whatever, and get some sleep." Sheik stood up, mock-saluted and winked. Then there was a brilliant flash of light and Link blinked. Sheik was gone. Link jumped up and looked in all directions, but saw no one.  
A lithe shape dove into the water behind him with a quiet splash. Link whirled, but saw nothing. He smiled.  
He warped to the Lost Woods, ran through them to his home, and fell into bed. He was asleep before he even had time to twitch.

On the morning of the next day, he finally woke up again. After stretching extensively and doing a little exercise, he left the forest, called Epona, and rode to Kakariko, still in the very early morning long before the sun was up.  
As Epona trotted up the ramp, his eyes narrowed. The air was hazy, and there was red flickering light ahead.  
"Fire?" Navi said from her seat on his shoulder. "What's going on?"  
"I don't know," Link answered, quickening Epona's pace.  
They rounded the path corner and entered the gate. All the buildings were on fire, all consuming in a blazing inferno that burst into the still-starry sky. Link dismounted and ran forward, intending to find someone and rescue them.  
Then he saw the slender, blue-clad figure standing next to the old well.  
"Sheik!" Link shouted. "What's going on? Where's everybody? Who-"  
The Sheikah cut him off with a curt gesture. " _Stay back!_ "  
Link skidded to a halt, startled by the force of the command. Sheik seemed to be concentrating on a spell of some sort; wind, both natural and colour-tinged, swirled around him.  
There was an explosion in the well, and the wooden structure for the windlass and gears on top of the well blew off into the sky. Sheik jumped back, settling into a crouch. Something invisible picked him up and flung him around like a doll, finally throwing him past Link down the stairs. Sheik gave an involuntary wail. He skidded to a stop on the bare ground, grunting painfully, and lay unmoving.  
"Sheik!" Link shouted, running to him, kneeling on the ground. He bent his head to listen to the man's breathing, and heard it gentle, but steady.  
He looked up and drew his sword and shield. A blurry purpleness was racing around the cliffs, leaving dust in its wake. It charged him. He pulled his sword back, ready for a powered up swing.  
It struck his shield. Everything went black, but he could feel it wrapped around him, shaking him through the air and crushing him. Then it flung him, but he didn't feel himself hit the ground…


	16. Chapter 16: The Magic Eye

Chapter 16: The Magic Eye

A few minutes later, he heard two anxious voices calling him – the light voice of his fairy, and an alto voice… was it a girl? Maybe Malon?  
"Link, will you wake up already!" Navi yelled in his ear. Someone gently shook him.  
Link groaned and tried to sit up, shaking his dizzy head. "You know, Navi, I appreciate the shaking more than the yelling."  
Navi half-smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry. I was worried."  
"Okay, that's okay then. Sheik?"  
"Yes, it's me. Did you forget what happened?"  
"No, I didn't forget… it's just for a minute your voice made me think of Malon. Nothing against you or her… just my messed up head." He rubbed it. "Ow. So, what was that thing? Why aren't any of the buildings on fire? Where did the shadow go? Can I fight it?"  
Sheik stared stupefied at the Hylian as Navi burst into laughter. "You're not supposed to know about that!" he exclaimed indignantly.  
"About what? My memory didn't blank out, and you asked if I forgot what happened. Answer my questions, will you?"  
Sheik patted his shoulder comfortingly, face serious. "That thing is an ancient shadow that Ganondorf has been trying to free for some time now. This morning, obviously, he succeeded. The burning buildings are all an illusion caused by the shadow; it's haunting the town now. It's gone to the Shadow Temple. Will you fight that one next?"  
"Yes. I don't want Kakariko bothered more than necessary by Ganondorf."  
"Well, that shadow… you can't really use physical weapons against it, obviously. Also, you'll need another tool to fight it properly. It was sealed in the well, but the well is dry because someone played the Song of Storms about the time you first disappeared… Do you know it?" Link shook his head. "Well, I'll teach it to you. The thing should still be in the well if you go there in the past. I'll see what I can do to get you there, seeing as you are the Hero of Time and all that."  
"Wait, wait." Link held up his hands and shook his head confusedly. "If the tool is at the bottom of the well, why can't I reach it in this time? If the shadow's back there, then how can I go in then? And what is it anyway?"  
"It's complicated, as is usual with time travel. The monster is free now, so it's free in all times… if that makes any sense. I think… yes, it broke free of its last sealing place about five years ago, but the last of the Sheikahs managed to seal in the well where it fled then. I don't know what the device is, but it isn't here now because… well, because you have it. Except you don't yet."  
"Okay." Link thought for a long time. "I understand now. The last of the Sheikahs would be… you and Impa?"  
"Yes… Impa is missing, however…"  
"Ouch, things sound worse all the time. Let's go."  
Sheik nodded and stood up. After he gave Link the Song of Storms, he played the Song of Time, gesturing for Link to do the same. Blue warp whirl surrounded the Hylian.  
He reappeared in the tree near the entrance of Kakariko, in the body of a small boy, Navi beside him. The sleepy little village was just waking up. Link hopped out of the tree before anyone saw him.  
Trotting over to the windmill, he froze as he saw Rana curled up on the hill behind the windmill under a warm blanket.  
"Hey, it's Rana!" cried Navi in delight. "Link, Link, should we –" Link grabbed her and hushed her urgently.  
"We don't know when we are. I think it will be better to let her be." Link thought. "Let's hide inside the windmill." He crept in the door and hid in a corner.  
After a few minutes, the organ grinder slouched in, rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and hooked up the windmill's gears. He went to his seat and took his accordion, doodling away with notes and chords.  
Then Rana came in. Link took his Ocarina and played the Song of Storms softly.  
Rana's ears perked up, and she traded a few words with the organ grinder. She reached down the front of her tunic and pulled out the Fairy Ocarina, hanging around her neck by a string. She tried out the song, practicing over and over until she had all the notes.  
Then Link let loose.  
The sky grew black over the windmill, lightening flashed, and thunder cracked overhead. Rana ducked instinctively, covering her head, and Link winced apologetically. Rain poured down like a giant bucket had overturned, and wind howled. The windmill began to spin faster and faster, and Rana, standing on the grindstone, was flung off. Link flinched again, appalled at the strength of the forces stored up in six playings of the song.  
Gradually the storm quieted and died.  
"What was that?" Rana wondered in an awed voice.  
"That must have been triggered by the song. I suggest you don't play it anymore," said the organ grinder.  
"I won't. That was freaky. That must be… uh… it should be called the Song of Storms." She skipped out, and gave a yell. "The well is empty!"  
The organ grinder cursed. "What? That blasted storm! It's not your fault, lass, but… Grr! That's going to make changes. We'd better go and tell everyone what happened."  
"Right!"  
Link watched them out of the door, and waited for five minutes. "Navi," he whispered at the end of that time, "go and see if anyone's coming. I need to get down the well before Rana goes in or anything."  
"No one's there!"  
Link slipped out of his hiding place and out of the door. Jumping over the railing of the windmill entrance balcony, he climbed quickly down the iron rungs in the well. There was an opening at the muddy bottom of the well, a very dark opening.  
Link stepped in reluctantly. There was a crawl space. Bending down, he crawled through slowly, adrenaline beginning to flow in his veins.  
Navi lit up the small room. There were slimy chains hanging from the vaulted ceiling, and a ladder led downwards into a dark abyss.  
The abyss was about two meters deep, and the chamber was a dead end. With a skeleton in the corner.  
Link shivered. "Well, Navi, there's not much here." He searched carefully around the floor and walls for anything that might be a clue, a switch, or even the tool he had come to find. It was drafty and cold.  
There was nothing, but when he got close to the skeleton, Navi jumped. "Link!"  
"What?"  
"I can hear… spirits…" She snuggled up to Link's neck. "They say not to trust your senses."  
Link reached out and touched the brow of the skeleton. It felt real, and slimy from sitting in the well water.  
"They're laughing at you," Navi said. Link smiled.  
"They must be friendly spirits."  
"I think they know you're the Hero of Time. Hey, wait, where's the Master Sword?"  
Link started and felt for the Kokiri Sword. "I forgot all about it. It's… Well, I don't have my hookshot or my bow either, so it must be back in seven years from now. Or whatever."  
"Right. I don't have your hammer or boots either."  
"Anyway." Link felt the wall. It, too, felt real.  
"The spirits are warning me that there are unfriendly spirits, too, in this… catacomb. Scary."  
"I'm ready," said Link, pushing through the wall. It melted under his touch, yet he could still see it. He hastily put his face through so that he could see if anything was waiting for him.  
There wasn't anything, but he could hear the floating skulls he had encountered in the Forest Temple. "Great. Not these again… Gah!" He jumped as a green-glowing skull bigger than he was tall bobbled past in a corridor filled with ankle-deep water. "Very great." He sighed, and started off in the direction the skull had come. "Navi, keep an eye out behind me, okay?"  
Turning the corner, he was suprised by the huge skull again, and jumped back with a startled yell, pelting it with Deku Seeds until it shattered. Link relaxed slightly.  
"I'm… rather anxious, Navi. I'm not as strong as I was – am when I'm nineteen, and I don't have the same weapons. Everything feels different. And the enemies are frightening and a bit intimidating in size, even if they're in reality weak. I think we should just get this over with as quickly as possible."  
"No kidding." Navi curled up on top of his hat.  
There was a door. Link opened it.  
"Redead!" squeaked Navi. "Din's Fire!" Link cast the spell and backed into a corner, accidentally dislodging a pile of skulls around his feet. The Redead burned, but then the fire died and they advanced on him, moaning and groaning and fixing him with their hollow eyesockets. One shrieked and paralyzed him.  
A fierce light began to burn in Link's eyes. "You want me?" Struggling against the magic, his left hand went for his sword.  
Two minutes later, the room was full of gooey pieces of Redead and a half-asphyxiated Link. One had gotten its hands around his neck from behind.  
Navi patted his cheek in adoration, and he smiled at her. "Hey, Navi. I'm fine now. I just got over my stage fright."  
"I'm still creeped out, even if those things can't hurt me."  
"It's still gross fighting dead stuff, but there's no reason to be afraid just because of that, I realized."  
"Yes."  
Link rounded a corner and found himself face to face with a dead end for a bare moment – then he was falling through a hidden trapdoor. The floor had been an illusion.  
He landed in soft dirt, which quickly changed to mud. Link stood up covered in ooze and wiped his hands on his tunic. He looked around and found he was at the end of a corridor. He headed towards a dim light.  
There were lit torches in a room that held two more Redead. Link made a pathetic face and drew his sword.  
It was a long time before he found what he was looking for, but he found something anyway. It was a little purple magnifying glass with three spikes on the top. The Eye of Truth was carved into the handle.  
"Does this look like an important tool to help me defeat the shadow creature?" Link asked.  
"Yup!" Navi chirped. "Especially since it doesn't magnify anything. Let's go back! If we can get back to that time." Link gave the Lens of Truth to his fairy. She agreed to tell him what she could see with it. When Link got to the entrance, she said that the wall that was an illusion was not there to her. In other words, her vision of the world matched Link's feel of the world.  
Link began to climb the up to the crawl hole when he heard a gasp. He realized that he saw a light above, too. Rana gave a little squeak and scrambled backwards through the crawl space, probably climbing the ladder in the well as fast as she could. The light disappeared; probably Naeri. Link half-smiled. "Poor butterfly," he said to himself. "She's not supposed to have to do this."  
"She'll want to, though."  
"Well, we've got the Lens, so we're done here. She can ransack it from top to bottom." Link climbed cautiously out of the well and ran to the tree. A blue warp portal glowed in its branches. He grabbed a branch over his head and hauled himself up, warping through time to the future.

Sheik met him, pacing back and forth anxiously. The sun was up, and villagers were going about their business, with curious looks at the young Sheikah's strange behaviour. When Link appeared, he stopped.  
"You look a mess."  
"That's what you get for jumping in a 'dry' well," Link laughed at him. "I have the Lens. What now?"  
"Now I teach you the Requiem of Shadow."  
"Sounds scary."  
"Yes, a bit." The song wasn't the most comforting melody either.  
"Well, maybe you should rest before you set out again…"  
"Good idea. I need lunch, I'm starved. Join me?"  
"Nah, that's okay. I need to go. See you!" With a flash, Sheik disappeared.

After he had finished eating, Link rinsed his hands and face and played the Shadow song. Purple light took him to a ledge with a warp pad – on which he found himself – a tomb-like entrance in the side of a cliff, and a fenced-off drop to Kakariko Graveyard.  
"I should have guessed," he mumbled as he walked down the Temple entrance.  
Link stared at the room hewed into the cliff face. It was filled with torches; he didn't bother counting them. He looked around, and his gaze fell upon a little dais in the centre. He grinned to himself, centred himself on the dais, and cast Din's Fire.  
With a whoosh, every torch in the room lit at once and the crypt door opened.  
For all his courage, Link was a little apprehensive as he entered.


	17. Chapter 17: The Most Frightening Place

Chapter 17: The Most Frightening Place in Hyrule

Inside, his senses were assailed by a cold wind, distant howls, moans, and cackles, dim but steady lighting, and a horrible smell. The floor was smooth and even, but stopped after the first bend. Beyond was a terrible chasm. Navi flew forward, and pointed out a place where the hookshot might catch to reach the tunnel beyond.  
"Might is a pretty awful word in this spot," Link said to himself, but fired. It carried him safely across the pit, and he pulled himself out with great relief. Then he scolded himself.  
"Only around the first bend and you're uneasy. Snap out of it. Get yourself together. You need to save Hyrule. Saria and Zelda and Sheik are relying on you. And Ruto and Darunia and Malon and Talon. And perhaps Rana…" But there words failed him, because the idea he could not finish was the thought that Rana might be imprisoned here in this dreadful place.  
In the chamber ahead, a tall statue of an eagle, surrounded by a dozen skulls on poles, sat accusingly. Another chasm separated the eagle from the door further on, shaped like a snake head with open mouth.  
"Find the skull of truth, and those with sacred feet may pass," Navi said.  
"The what?"  
"That's what they said," Navi insisted. Link shivered and gave his fairy the Lens of Truth. Then he looked at the statue. It seemed important. One majestic wing was outstretched, and the brooding beak pointed in the same direction. Link pushed it gently, and it gave a little.  
"There's a false wall here," said Navi. "And this skull is the only real one."  
"The Lens is a far better way of determining that than touching it, isn't it," commented Link, revolving the statue to face the skull Navi pointed out. As the two objects moved into conjunction, the door in the snake's mouth opened invitingly.  
"You can't jump that gap," Navi said hastily, speeding in front of Link's face to forestall any foolhardy attempts.  
"I know I can't. I just want a look." The look was unpromising. After one disappointed glance, he turned back to go through the false wall.  
As he ventured further into the elaborate catacombs, his blood chilled. Tales of blood and death decorated the walls, and every so often a skull or a torch in a niche provided horror or light. The terrifying aspect was the fact that the stories were all tales of the ancient Royal Family of Hyrule, going back thousands of years. Chances were that the undertakers, mourners, and all the paraphernalia of a state burial braved their way down at the interment, and then hastened back to the sunlight, fearful of the tortured minds that might still inhibit the tunnels.  
And now he was venturing into them, voluntarily, alone.  
"Hey!" cried Navi suddenly. "Look here!"  
The walls seemed less ancient than the previous tunnels, and the words were sharper. Link looked closely at them, and then blinked.  
He had seen his own name.  
Link III read on carefully, learning that this was not the first time a Ganondorf had worried Hyrule. Link I had fought one, called Ganon, in the shape of a giant boar, and rescued a Princess Zelda, going on to waken her from an enchanted sleep and to marry her. Skipping 500 years, Link II had fought one all through Hyrule and into the Dark World, rescuing the lands of Holodrum and Labrynna from darkness, and defeating a wind wizard called Vaati. Link wasn't sure of the last; the writing was worn enough to miss a word or two. Link II had also married a Princess Zelda. That, too, was several centuries ago.  
The text ended in one more panel, so Link went back and read it again.  
Navi screeched. "Behind you!" Link whirled and hacked at the two Stalfos sneaking up on him. One's shield was completely sliced in half.  
After dealing with the skeletons and rereading the script, Link pressed on deeper into the labyrinth.  
At the end of the mazes, he found a room with a dirt floor and six long undead-white arms sticking straight up. Their nails were red.  
Link cautiously advanced towards one and slashed at it with his sword. Blindingly fast, it whipped towards him and fumbled around the sword, ignoring the gashes appearing in its tattered skin, groping towards his throat.  
Dozens of arms erupted out of the ground and held him so he couldn't move a muscle. The Master Sword hung frozen in his motionless hand. A blobby, oozy zombie body squelched out of the ground in a shower of mud and began to wobble towards him. Navi immediately targeted the thing, trying to bonk it in the head with her glowing wings, trying to distract it. It waddled on, almost wading in the ground, with mindless blankness. It came closer and closer… it was right in front of him…  
The ghastly head, which had been up in the air on a skinny neck, lowered to his level. It stank horribly, with the skin sagging off mushed bone-pulp, and dagger-sized yellow teeth bared. A growl tore itself from Link's throat as he fought his stomach down. Two more hands, these weak and flimsy, laid themselves on him, and the dreadful teeth were getting awfully close to his neck. The tips of the teeth touched his skin… tore his white shirt…  
And Link ripped himself from the constricting hands, stumbling over backwards onto his back and doing a roll into a crouch, the Master Sword shining very brightly in that room where the only light came from Link's helpful little fairy.  
The ghoul took one hit, two, three, and went down.  
A chest appeared, a big one, and Link opened it. Inside were what looked like large golden sandals with wings on the back.  
"Hover boots!" sang Navi. "That's what it means by 'sacred feet'. You put these on top of your normal boots. Let's see… you can hover, but they're very slippery."  
"Right."  
"And you beat that thing so well! I thought you were… well, it was frightening. And it almost got you."  
"Yes? Well, I got him. Let's go!"  
He returned to the room with the snake head door and floated across the gap. There was a long, steep passage leading down. Link opened the door at the bottom and sighed. The dark passage in navy blue stone was headed… down.  
"I'm cold as it is, and they want to go down?" he complained.  
"That's normal," Navi told him, fluttering down to his hand and smiling into his face. "It's supposed to be hidden, and twistly, so evil can't get at the Sage so easily."  
"Yes, but then, evil things just grow. Like mould on old wet bread." Navi giggled.  
Link took two quick steps forward, and then stopped as scritching came to his ears. He looked up instinctively, and whipped out his sword as a Skulltula dropped towards him.  
After slaying the giant spider, he was starting to feel pretty good about this passage. He wondered why. Normally he would have found it harder than that. Then he took a look at what lay ahead beyond that.  
He had stepped into a vast cavern, dyed in a faded green light. A narrow walkway, topped with large bloodstained guillotines, led to the other side. Various chains hung from the vague ceiling, and there were many distant lumps and glitters too far to make out.  
Link watched the nearest blade and somersaulted below it at an appropriate time. Adrenaline, already pulsing through him, intensified as he raced to duck under another one. He accidentally hopped off a ledge in the walkway, but landed safely on another one. Then he had to run before getting chopped in half by another axe.  
At the end, he found a Stalfos on a ledge and leaped towards it, making it fall backwards into the abyss.  
Crossing an invisible bridge in thin air, he came to a very small door, hidden away. The great long chamber behind it had a small dock and a large ship. It had a head like a jackal and paddlewheels on each side. Two golden bells hung from the prow. Hopping to the centre of the deck, he found a Triforce inlaid in the wood. He took out the Ocarina of Time, smiling fondly, and played Zelda's Lullaby.  
He almost choked in the middle of the song. Zelda and Rana… both missing… An anxious tear ran down his cheek as he finished the song.  
The bells rang and the ship began to sway rather violently as it began its journey through a dark tunnel on the ghostly river.  
A Stalfos skeleton dropped down onto the deck. Link killed it, dancing around its defences. Another one met the same fate, and then Link had time to look around and sightsee. There was little variation in the smooth walls of the tunnel.  
And then, the tunnel broadened out, and a strip of land appeared beside the ship, but the tunnel ended in a smooth grey wall ahead. Link's eyebrows twitched as the ship struck the wall at the end of the tunnel and began to break apart.  
"They didn't plan this thing very well!" he yelled, jumping off startled. The ship sank like a rock.  
"Well, we can't get back now," Navi sighed, staring into the black depths.  
There was a dark hole in the wall on the other side of another chasm, flanked by two huge eagle statues. Unable to get there, he stared around until he saw another door that he could go through. Though the room inside was full of Redead and Floormasters, it was also guarding a lovely chest of gold and lapus lazuli. Inside was a golden key with a ruby.  
"Well, here we go!" Link sang as he walked out, battered, but whole. "We have one more Temple to finish past this one, and then we can defeat Ganondorf!"  
"You're a bit happy," Navi said.  
"I just found help in seeing how far we've come. I just wish Rana were with me…"  
Abruptly Navi began to sob. "Do you think… sniff… that she's dead?"  
Link stopped and gathered his fairy into his hands, stroking her ethereal head with a finger. He had to guess because she was invisible, except for the fairy light that surrounded her and her wings. "I wonder, too, Navi."  
"I hope that she isn't, but no one's seen her for two years. I don't know what to think. I can only hope with all my heart that she's alive somewhere," Link said sombrely. "I must have faith in her."  
Suddenly Navi flew up and hugged his face, making him start. "I love you, Link. You're the best partner anyone could have in the world."

Navi finally let go of Link's nose.  
"I love you, too, Navi. We'll keep looking for Rana. She'll probably find us first, mind you."  
"Yes! She will. Let's go."  
Link walked back to the strip of land where the ship had sank and looked at the statues on the other side.  
The head of one had fallen off and was on his side of the chasm. Link looked at the other one, suddenly inspired.  
"Navi, could you fly a bomb over there?"  
"No, they're too big and heavy."  
"Okay. What if you used the… teleporter thingy?"  
"I could do that…"  
"Take the whole bag and dump it in front of the statue… I think it'll break and make a bridge… On second thought, just use a couple. We don't want to destroy the statue, just destabilize it."  
"Listen to the pyrotechnician," Navi giggled, doing as he asked.  
Three bombs went off, and the statue wavered. Breaking off at the base with a crack, it plunged towards Link, who rolled out of the way.  
The curving back of the eagle statue made a perfect bridge for Link, who trotted across hurriedly, in case it broke apart and collapsed into the chasm.  
Down a short dark hallway, a door with an ornate lock on the handle just begged to be unlocked with the golden key. Then there was a round room with blue, pitted stone in the walls, and a deep well in the floor. Looking around, finding nothing to latch on to, he let himself down. It was a very long drop.  
He bounced a metre in the air when he landed. The floor was springy. Tan coloured, and smoothly rough and worn…  
Something else hit the ground, making him bounce again. He felt three other taps through his soles as well, and then another heavy thud. It was very rhythmic. Almost as if…


	18. Chapter 18: Held by Bandits

Chapter 18: Held by Bandits

He was standing on the centre of a giant drum. Two huge, corpse-like hands were drumming around the edge, and in the shadows… yes, he could see it… a diseased, flower-like head with a single red eye. It reminded him of the giant spider under the Deku Tree. It vanished.  
"Navi! Show me where it is!" He could hardly keep his feet with all the bouncing. He was launched into the air every fourth beat, and landed uncertainly each time. With the Lens of Truth, he could see the creature. Link grabbed his bow, slipped, hopped up again, shot, and landed unsteadily. The head was too heavily armoured, so he shot a hand, and it began shaking like it had been burned. The other whizzed at him, intent on doing him bodily harm, so quick as thought, he shot it, too. Both hands clenched, the eye in the body opened, and rushed him. He shot that, and it collapsed, very like the spider.  
Putting away his bow and drawing his sword, he charged, stabbing as fast as he could. The cuts brought it out of its stupor and it reared up and away from him, closing the eye again.  
Although the drumming threw him off violently, he managed to do the same thing several more times, before his magic power was drained from using the Lens.  
He was still hitting it when he realized he had struck its death blow. It shook violently, and then dissolved into a black, gooey puddle that evaporated.  
Waiting while the blood stopped rushing in his ears, he walked slowly towards the warp that appeared.

Impa rose out of the purple podium in the Temple of Light. "Well done, boy."  
"Where were you?" Navi asked.  
Impa frowned at her and did not answer the question.  
"I am the last of the Sheikah… for years we have been sworn to protect the King of Hyrule, and his family. I remember you when I had to take Princess Zelda away, and we saw you, and your friend Rana, looking so alone and forlorn. I helped her protect the Ocarina of Time…" Impa ceased her reminiscences and looked directly at Link.  
"Soon, you will meet Princess Zelda, and she will explain everything you do not already know. For now, take the Medallion of Shadow. Please protect the Princess in my place!"  
"Wait!" Link cried, reaching up to take the Medallion, and reaching his left hand out towards the muscular bodyguard woman. "Where is she?"  
The Sheikah raised a hand in farewell as the warp crystal formed around the Hylian.

"Drat," said Link, appearing in the graveyard. "I need answers. Where's Sheik?"  
No one answered him.  
"Drat," he said again. "I was hoping he'd drop in out of nowhere and respond. Where's the last dungeon?"  
"The desert, I think."  
"Right." He walked through the town and caught some sleep in a corner. When he woke, it was still very dark. He rose, called Epona, and rode across Hyrule Field as the sun dawned.

Epona galloped faster and faster, charging down the narrow canyon on the eastern edge of Hyrule. Link gave her her head and let her choose her own path, straight towards a broken bridge over the deep, deep canyon through which the Zora River flowed down to Lake Hylia. Link leaned forward, trusting her.  
With a soaring leap, she jumped the gap and trotted to a halt. Link dismounted and patted her trembling flank. Letting her jog around in a circle, he walked over to the one man standing there. It was the old carpenter from Kakariko he had met once, a little whiter, and little balder, but the same who had built an archery range in the centre of town. A small tent was erected beside him.  
"Hey! Hey, ki- er, young man!" The carpenter bellowed in a voice used to projecting above the roar of construction work, but echoed like a bass drum in the empty canyon.  
"Yes?"  
"Are you going to the Gerudo's fort?"  
"Yes."  
"Well, er, you see… my workers all ran away. They said that being carpenters wasn't any fun, and ran off to become thieves. Would you, er…"  
"Go and round 'em up?" Link asked, smiling.  
"Yeah, something like that."  
"That's all right with me. Can you tell me anything about the Gerudo? I haven't been in this part of the world before…"  
"The Gerudo are an all-female robber band. Did you know that?" Link nodded. "That's about all I know."  
"All right, then." Link shrugged and set off down the canyon.  
Around two more corners, he was slammed painfully against the rocks of the canyon by three woman with spears, scimitars, and long red hair. They were dressed in desert-like clothing.  
"Come with us, boy. You're trespassing. Don't argue and don't struggle, and we won't have to kill you."  
Link complied silently, trudging after the Gerudo.  
No one said anything until they took him up a tower and kicked him through a trapdoor. "Hey!" Link yelled, startled.  
"Idiot boy! We don't want men around here, you got that? We'll decide what to do with you later, so just relax! You can't get out of there!"  
The door closed. Link sighed and looked around. The cell was bare. There was one window with… it looked like a wooden shutter…  
Link sent Navi to see where the guards were. Then he fired his hookshot. It caught in the shutter and let him down on the windowsill. He looked around, but no one seemed to notice him. He jumped down to a courtyard and ducked inside a door. He crouched behind a box and snuck past several guardwomen, and went out another door. His heart was pounding. This was a deadly kind of hide-and-seek.  
He found a wide room with two barred cells covering one side. One was empty. From the other came a loud whisper.  
"Hey! Young man! Over here!"  
Link trotted over to the fat carpenter in the cage. "Who are you?"  
"I'm Ichiro the carpenter. Have you come to save me? I wanted to join the Gerudos, but they locked me up instead. It's no fun! I want to go home!"  
"Okay, I'll let you out."  
"You need a key."  
"Ye-"  
Navi gave a stifled shriek. Link whirled and ducked the pair of scimitars heading for his head. The Gerudo woman was breathing heavily after her surprise attack, but otherwise made no noise. He parried, and blocked, and ducked, a rather fierce grin curling one corner of his mouth.  
Suddenly he lunged, tore both scimitars from her hands with the Master Sword, and knocked her down with the Hylian Shield. She glared, panting.  
"Do you have a key to that lock?" he asked, also breathing a bit harder than he would have wished.  
She flung it in his face, but Navi caught it, leaving Link free to wrestle with the Gerudo. Somehow, the fairy opened the door, Ichiro lumbered out, and Link shoved the guard into the cell.  
"I'm sorry," Link told her, "but I'm on a mission and I can't have you tripping me up."  
"Sir? Sir? What do I do now?"  
"I suggest you run as fast as you can back to the bridge. I don't think you should hang around here," Link said to the carpenter. "If you get caught again, I'll see what I can do, but please don't."  
"Right! Fabulous fighting!" The carpenter took off at a faster speed than Link would have thought possible.  
"You… you…" the Gerudo growled.  
"I'm sorry!" Link said sincerely. "I'm serious."  
"I know that! However, you're messing up my mission!"  
The Hylian cocked his head to one side. "What's that?"  
"I'm going to prove myself to Nabooru, and I can't do that if I fail to guard this idiot! I'm garbage now, you… you… pig! Who are you, anyway!?"  
"I'm the Hero of Time," Link said quietly, smiled at her, and left.

Link wandered, very softly, until he found a carpenter named Jiro. His guard was a little less certain than the first one. She kept away, darting in sometimes to execute whirling, heavy attacks. Link eventually waited until she was against the wall on the other side of the room, whipped out his bow, and sent an arrow into the wall on either side of her head. She dropped her swords, trembling.  
He got the key, sent Jiro on his way, and then locked up the girl with a few words explaining who he was and what he was doing. "I'm Link, the Hero of Time, and right now I'm getting these carpenters out of here. I'm also going to the Desert Temple. Don't look so scared, okay?"  
The girl curled up dejectedly in a corner.  
"I'm sorry," Navi said. "We have to do this. It's… for the good of the world."  
"If you like," Link said impulsively, "we can explain it all to this Nabooru person when we get back."  
At last the girl looked up. "Fine. Go."

Sabooro was the third carpenter, and just as slothful and fearful as the other two. He told Link that the carpenters' names were Ichiro, Jiro, himself, and Shiro.  
"Only one more, then!" Navi said happily.  
Link grinned back at her. The game of hide-and-seek-with-angry-redheads-trying-to-get-him was actually becoming rather fun, though much more scary than usual.

Shiro was hard to find. Link wandered all over the complex twice until he found a door he hadn't been in yet. On the way, he saw how the buildings were all square, built of mudbrick, sheltered above by a huge overhanging cliff. A small natural wall separated the courtyard from the vast desert, and was pierced with one gate of heavy logs.  
At last, Link found the last carpenter. After defeating the guard, and pushing her firmly into the cell, he heard a light cough behind him.  
He spun, his shield up. The Gerudo stared at him pleasantly, making no move to go for her swords, and Link slowly relaxed.  
"You're quite an impressive young man. We all used to think that all men, besides the great Ganondorf, were useless, but now we think differently. As soon as we found those wimps were escaping, we conferred at once, and we think it best that you join our group, Hero of Time."  
"Um…" Link gaped blankly. "What does that mean exactly?"  
"It means that we will not stop your progress on your… mission. If you want to go to the Desert Temple, we will open the gate for you." She leaned forward and winked. "Plus, if you want to settle down here, we'd welcome you warmly! You'd make the greatest thief ever! Infiltrating a thieves' hideout… your entrance could use work, but your exit was spectacular. Oh, and can you let Anada out now?"  
Link let the girl rush from the cell and away down the corridor. "Well."

Journeying across the desert was difficult and time consuming. The Gerudos lent him many waterbottles and a sort of sunscreen – they were all well tanned, but still used lots to keep from burning horrendously. Link accepted these gratefully.  
The first obstacle between him and the Desert Temple was a river of sinking sand. Only the Hover Boots saved him, letting him wade back to the surface after he sank to his waist. The second obstacle was the vast uniformity of desert in general; there was too much sand in the air to see the monolith that he was aiming for. He had seen it from the Gerudo's gate.  
A friendly spirit showed him the safe path. Navi showed him; she had the Lens of Truth.  
Suddenly they burst into the sunlight again, out of the storm.


	19. Chapter 19: The Land of Sand

Chapter 19: The Land of Sand

There was a huge stone in the distance, much closer now. Link staggered towards it.  
"Want some more water?" Navi asked.  
"I'll hang on for a bit, thanks."  
As they got closer, Link could see the stone more clearly. There was an ancient, broken statue of a woman sitting crosslegged with her hands palm upwards that was carved directly into the face of the rock. In front of her was a rough stone arch, rising out of the desert.  
There also was a Triforce pad.  
Link walked past the pad and over to the entrance under the statue's feet. He stood looking around a bit.  
"Isn't Sheik supposed to meet me here?" he asked Navi. He turned around to scan the desert.  
Sheik was there, smirking. At least, Link thought it was a smirk. He couldn't tell. The other youth's collar was too high for him to see.  
Link clutched his chest, pretending to have a heart attack. "Goodness, Sheik, where did you come from?"  
"Up there," Sheik answered, pointing at the top of the arch. "I've been watching you. You need a drink, don't you?"  
"I guess so." Navi gave him his bottle of water.  
"Also," Link began, "how did you land so quietly? You just seem to appear and disappear out of nowhere." Sheik disappeared. Link started.  
"I'm a ninja," Sheik's voice sounded in his ear. Link started again, putting a hand up to feel the silver chain suddenly looped around his neck. The man's breath was hot on his cheek.  
Sheik released him and walked around to face him. "I've been training like mad ever since you vanished seven years ago. I thought you might not come back." He paused. "Are we gonna learn a song or what?"  
Link shrugged and took out his Ocarina.  
Sheik played a sombre melody. It didn't seem to fit with the desert or the Gerudo, but it fit the idea of 'Spirit' Temple perfectly. Link played it back gravely.  
"This will take you here in any port of time," Sheik said, looking at him closely.  
"You mean…"  
"You need another tool to enter this… um, the Temple proper. However, it's been taken seven years ago. Probably by you."  
Link groaned. "Not again. Right."  
"You can't see much of the Temple now. On one side of the foyer is a tunnel so small even I can't fit. On the other side is a block so heavy that even both of us together pushing it wouldn't be able to move it. That's why you need to go back"  
"Thanks."  
Sheik resettled his harp and played the Song of Time. A blue portal appeared in the archway. Link walked into it and disappeared in a flash of blue light.

On the other side of time, seven years ago, Link yelled and ran for his life as two ugly old women on broomsticks chased him into the Temple entrance, firing blasts of fire and ice magic at him. He stumbled in the sudden cool darkness inside, dashing up the stairs. At the top, an arm came out of nowhere, looped around him, and yanked him into a dark corner. Link kicked and tore himself away from his attacker.  
The girl held out her hands placatingly. "Whoa, kid, relax! I'm just trying to help you!"  
"Sorry," Link panted, crouching in the alcove with his rescuer. "Who are those witches?" They were flying away. Using a magic portal, they flew right through a solid stone wall.  
The Gerudo's face hardened. "They're Ganondorf's henchmen. They're using this place as a hideout…"  
"The Spirit Temple, a hideout?" Navi spluttered indignantly.  
"What's that?"  
"This is Navi, my fairy. My name's Link. Who are you?"  
The girl drew herself up. "I'm Nabooru, the lone wolf thief. I'm completely against Ganondorf and all his evilness! Yeah, he's a thief too. But he steals from the needy and kills people!" She glared at him. "You aren't one of his spies, are you?"  
"We hate Ganondorf!" Link snapped. "He's done terrible things to my friends, all in his insane quest for power. I'm taking him down. I'm the Hero of Time, by the way."  
"What's that? Wait. I'll explain our custom, and you explain yours. Every hundred years, a male Gerudo is born. That one man is the King of the Gerudo. I'm not bowing to this one. What's a Hero of Time?"  
"It seems whenever the land of Hyrule, or even other lands, is in danger, a Hylian is chosen to wield the Master Sword, Evil's Bane, and strike down whatever is causing the problem."  
"Goodie. I suppose I can trust you then. First, I need your help. How old are you?"  
"Um…. Twelve."  
"I'm fifteen. I've already grown up, so I can't fit through this hole, and I can't trust any of the other Gerudo girls. They all have a crush on that idiot king, and besides, they're too young to fight. Beyond here is hidden the Silver Gauntlets somewhere. If I can get those, I'll be able to sneak into the rest of the Temple, steal all Gannie's treasure, and mess up their plans."  
"I'll go," Link said instantly. "I can fight."  
"Yeah, yeah, hero-boy. Is that the Master Sword? It looks small."  
"No, this is the Kokiri Sword. I'm too small to use the big sword. Just wait seven years. I'm sure I'll see you sometime in the future after this."  
The boy wriggled his way into the tiny crawl tunnel.  
As he wandered, he found many new creatures, most of them attacking him. He also found a room that was vast, dark, and mysterious. He liked it. A huge statue of another cross legged woman, with her palms up, a katana carved on her back, and a snake wrapped around her waist and neck and hooding over her head was placed in the centre of the room. Link felt quite dwarfed.  
Following the path laid for him, he trudged up some velvety red carpeted stairs and came to another door.  
The room was full of brick pillars and had a red painted walkway on the floor. It took a right angle left. Link glanced towards the end of the room in a combat-ready crouch.  
A massive, armoured warrior sat in a throne of brick, battleaxe at the ready. Seeing Link, it rose to its feet and came towards him ponderously.  
He darted in and stabbed it, then backflipped away with an abrupt inhalation as the axe cleaved the air he had just vacated.  
The hulking figure kept lumbering towards him, swinging its axe when he came close enough. Often Link misjudged his shorter Kokiri sword, shorter than the Master Sword, not coming close enough to hit. He would rather be cautious than dead, though, and persisted.  
Finally something parted in the armour, and most of it fell off. Link had no time to celebrate, though because now the soldier was free to run towards him quickly.  
Link hit it, and it flinched. Staying in close, ducking around behind it, he kept attacking it, taking advantage of its reactions to keep stabbing it.  
At last, it crumpled in a blue flame, and Link crumpled in a pile of sweaty green tunic. Navi gave him another drink, a big one.  
"That warrior was called an Ironknuckle. I think they're robotic soldiers of Ganondorf."  
"So, not alive, you mean?"  
"Yes. At least, I don't think so. Maybe they are, but they're not Hylian or Gerudo or… anything anymore. They're half monster now."  
"How can you tell?"  
"Something with the feel of the spirit. It's different."  
"All right. I'm ready to go now."  
Exiting the door behind the throne, Link found himself standing in the palm of one of the hands of the woman on the outside the Desert Colossus. Beside him was a huge treasure chest. Link looked up, wondering how old the statue was to have been half broken away – the woman was missing a breast and one side of the lower half of her face. He wondered where the broken rocks had gone, too. He could see no sign of them.  
He turned back to the chest and opened it, finding the gauntlets. They looked exactly like those he had as an adult, but with silver plates on the backs.  
Then he heard a scream. A high-pitched cry echoed around the cliffs of the Temple.  
Link edged carefully to the brink of the drop and looked down, catching sight of the two witches who had chased him; they were circling quickly. In the centre of their ring, in the sand, was a purple-black hole of magic, and being sucked into the circle was Nabooru.  
Link almost called to her, but Nabooru cried above the whir of magic. "Kyaaaa! Link, wherever you are, get out of there! These witches… they…" Her head sank below the sand and her words were lost.  
The witches flew back into the Temple as their magic hole faded from view.  
Link gritted his teeth in anger, and hopped off the hand to the desert ground, many feet below. He ran back to the blue swirling magic of time in the archway and jumped through.

He appeared again in his adult body, still clutching the Silver Gauntlets. He pulled them on. The temple looked exactly the same.  
"That was fast!" Sheik called, sitting in the shade of the doorway.  
Link walked over to him. "It wasn't too difficult, but something bad happened."  
"What?"  
"We met a nice, Ganondorf-hating Gerudo girl named Nabooru, and she was captured by two witches."  
"Ah. I've heard of them. They're called the Twinrova. I don't know why."  
"It's probably too late, but I'm going to go in there and see if she's still stuck… Wait. One of the Gerudo at the fort said something about her! She said she was going to prove herself to Nabooru…"  
Sheik thought for a long while. "Well, we don't usually have much to do with the Gerudo, but I believe that Nabooru did become the chieftain of the Gerudo. She must have escaped."  
"Oh. That's good. Well, see you later!"  
"Bye, Hero! After you're done, come to the Temple of Time! I'll be there!"

Link re-entered the Spirit Temple. He turned to the right this time, glancing to the left. No one was there. Ahead of him, to the right of the entrance, there was a huge black stone block with a carving on it.  
Link rubbed his hands together and set his shoulder against the block. Energy rushed through him like lava through the veins of a volcano, astonishing him completely. The block moved easily. He continued pushing, not knowing, or really caring what would happen, when it would stop.  
He felt it sliding through his hands and stopped pushing. It had fallen into a hole.  
After countless puzzles and passages, Link entered a door and found himself outside again.  
He was on the carved woman's left hand, with an enormous treasure chest. He opened it. The lid was very heavy.  
The treasure was a polished, shiny shield of silver bordered in red, decorated with Gerudo symbols.  
"So shiny…" Navi said.  
Link grinned. "It's as good as a mirror. I bet it's magical."  
"Ooh! Ooh! Try it on!"  
"Sure, but I'm keeping my Hylian shield mostly."  
"All right."  
The sun reflected off the shield in a blinding beam that stretched a long way into the desert. The sun was setting again.  
"I think it's almost time to sleep again. This seems like a safe spot."  
"Good idea!"  
Link had some supper and curled up on the warm gritty stone.  
The next morning, he ate breakfast and went back inside. He wandered all over the temple, even finding access to some of the places he had been as a boy, searching every nook and cranny. It was a fantastic temple; not damp and mouldy at all, and not too dark, and every spare spot was covered in amazing carvings which he couldn't read.  
Several hours later, he found a platform that lowered him directly in front of the inside seated statue's face.  
He stared at it. Light reflecting from mirrors above shone down on him, and he'd gone to a lot of trouble to make them match up properly even when he had no idea what it would do.  
"Now what?"  
"I don't know!" Navi cried frantically. She was very upset. Soon the light would move and then they would have to wait a whole day, which would be absolute boredom, not to mention it was against their natures to sit around while Ganondorf was at large.  
Link tried using the Lens of Truth, but he could see nothing different. He tried aiming the hookshot for the snake-hood, he tried throwing a Deku nut at it, he shot arrows at the stone jewel and the statues eyes; anything to find the hidden portal that surely must be there. He managed to throw a Deku stick like a javelin, he cast Din's Fire, he played songs on the Ocarina…  
"Hurry!" Navi said frantically.  
Link let his Ocarina fall from his lips. "Wait. Navi, why are we so concerned about the light?" He rubbed his forehead. "Farore help me, I'm so dense."  
He took the Mirror shield and focused the sun's light on the face of the statue.  
Dust rose and dangerous-looking cracks appeared on the face of the statue.  
Link lowered his shield before the damage got any worse. "I'm not sure I'm supposed to do this…"  
"DO IT!" Navi screamed at him.  
"Okay, okay, fine. But I'm telling Nabooru it's all your fault."  
"That's fine, just hurry up!"  
"Navi," Link snapped, his patience wearing, "stop talking. Please."  
The light was dim; otherwise there might have been time for an apology and making-up between them. They both knew it, so they only exchanged a glance and Link raised his shield again.  
The stone of the statue's face crumbled under the fire of the sun and fell to her lap. Behind, there was a round tunnel with a grill in it.  
Link fired his hookshot at the grill, not really knowing if it would stick. It did, and he landed gently as the hookshot came loose and the grill slid into the ceiling of its own accord. Behind the grill was a plain stone door.  
"Link, I want to say that what you said about telling Nabooru was funny."  
"Hey, thanks!"  
He opened the door.  
Here, a straight red carpet led down to another brick throne occupied by an Ironknuckle. Walking up the aisle towards it, he noted the positions of six brick pillars and also the fact that the Ironknuckle had a red cloak.  
When he had come only halfway down the room, it stood, raised its arms above its head, and… wait a minute…  
The Ironknuckle looked at its empty gauntlets, peered around the room, and snapped its fingers. Link laughed. A huge axe popped out of thin air and fell into its hands.  
It shook the axe above its head, roaring, and Link's laughter ceased as he readied his sword and shield, though he kept a wide grin on his face.  
He danced around the clumsily slow enemy, stabbing abruptly when he saw a chance. It was actually fun; his range as an adult was much better and the moments that worried him to the point of heart-attack were few and far between. The deadly axe missed him with every swing, and Link felt he had never backflipped more easily in his life; though being far heavier than a child, he was much stronger.  
At last, the armour fell in pieces. It seemed the Master Sword had severed a vital cord that kept the heavy plates secured in place.  
A slim figure fell to the floor.


	20. Chapter 20: The Broken Laugh

Chapter 20: The Broken Laugh

"Nabooru?!" Link cried in shock and disbelief. She didn't seem to be hurt, although he had struck the hulking Ironknuckle in the torso more than once; perhaps the massive padding under the armour had protected her.  
She raised herself to her knees. "Who… who are you…"  
He knelt beside her, trying to help her stand. "My name's Link. I met you seven years ago. Do you remember?"  
Two swirls appeared in the corner of the room, condensing into witches; one with red and black robes, the other with blue and black.  
"Oh, look, Koume, she's woken up again."  
"Oh dear, Kotake, you're right. What should we do with her?"  
Nabooru sprang to her feet, keeping a wary eye on both of them, growling like a wolf.  
"Let's lock her up again," said Koume. Both witches now held glowing balls of light in their colours.  
"Run, Nabooru!" Link shouted, jumping in front of her. The Gerudo woman didn't need telling twice. She was out the door before the old crones could fire their spells.  
Instead, they fired them at Link, who blocked them both with the Mirror shield.  
"We'll wait for them in the big room, right, Kotake?" cackled Koume.  
"We will, Koume," screeched Kotake. With a swirl, they both disappeared.  
Link charged through the door behind the Ironknuckle's chair. He guessed that the big room meant the room with the large statue, but he didn't want to leave any room unexplored.  
He found himself in a short corridor, leading to a massive door. He opened that door and his mouth fell open with surprise.  
The next room was huge, far larger than it had any right to be in the monolith of rock that stuck out of the desert. Actually, Link was not great at calculating the dimensions of the inside compared to the outside; this was the reason that he did, indeed, occasionally become lost.  
The room was filled by a large stone block about three stories tall and surrounded by four other pillars. Four skylights in the corners of the room let light into the otherwise dark room. Still, the light level was not the greatest, and Link tripped on his way to climb up the central block. He was a bit uncertain as to what the witches meant by 'the big room' now. Perhaps it was this one.  
When he stood in the centre of the mosaic on top of the stone, the witches warped to opposite pillars.  
"Look, Koume, this young man's come to offer himself as a sacrifice to the Great Ganondorf!"  
"Oh, Kotake, he's so nice! Ganondorf will be so happy!"  
Link, tired of whipping his head back and forth to focus on both of them, backed up and went into a crouch.  
"I'll burn him to a crisp!" they chanted. "I'll freeze him to his marrow!"  
The witches began to circle him, still making mouth noises.  
The blue one raised a wand and a patterned ring of blue light appeared in front of her. Link brought his shield up just in time. A blue spell hit it with a whump, and then… his shield started to glow, pulsing with blue light. Link stared at it, startled, and almost missed another blue spell.  
His shield started glowing faster. And when another spell hit it, it flashed brightly and a stream of icy air shot out of the front. Somehow, it hit the red witch.  
The witch screamed, and Link felt one step closer to victory.  
The one who had been hit then began to cast spells at Link, and his shield hummed with stored power. This one, he tried to aim at the blue witch, but he missed.  
Many times, he absorbed their spells and tried to throw them back, but much of the time the seeking beam of wind or flame missed completely. Finally, though, they stopped and stared at him.  
"All right, Kotake, time to get serious!"  
"I agree!"  
The two began to circle each other, tighter and tighter, and faster and faster. With a bright flash of purple light, they hit each other.  
A huge woman exploded into being, hovering in midair. She was younger-looking than the witches, but wore skimpy Gerudo clothing and make-up. Link shuddered.  
"Yes, fear us! We are the Twinrova!" shrieked the woman, posing flirtishly. Link shook his head to clear it and gripped his sword tighter.  
The Twinrova held two wands, one red, one blue. Her method of attack was the same as the witches had been, but now she cast her spells randomly. Link found that absorbing a flame spell after an ice spell meant the stored power vanished out of his shield.  
Then he hit the Twinrova with a flame spell. She screamed and sank to one of the towers. Link ran and jumped towards her, attacking with his sword.  
The Twinrova dissolved in another flash of purple light, and two witches hovered.  
"What happened, Koume?"  
"I think we lost, Kotake."  
"What? This is all your fault!"  
"Don't try to blame it on me! It's your fault!"  
"How can you do such a thing to your little sister!?"  
"You're my twin! Don't lie about your age!"  
"I'm only 380!"  
"You're 400!"  
"Imbecile!"  
"Nitwit!"  
"Senile!"  
"Hag!"  
Navi giggled. Link hid his own grin behind his hand.  
A white light came down and absorbed the two arguing women.  
A blue crystal formed around Link, and he relaxed into the healing power of the warp.

He appeared in the Temple of Light. Appearing out of the orange platform across from him was…  
"Nabooru?"  
"Hello, hero-boy. Long time, no see."  
"You're the Sage of Spirit."  
"The Desert."  
"Same thing!" Navi interrupted. "You got away!"  
"Yeah," Nabooru said, grinning wolfishly. "I'm still a nimble lone wolf thief, though I was brainwashed for so many years. They were worried about you. They forgot. Now I'm a Sage, so I'm even more powerful. Heh."  
"Um… that's good," Link said, unsure how to respond.  
"Yeah. Oh, and you can keep those gauntlets."  
"Thanks. They were amazing."  
"What do you mean, 'were'? You're gonna use 'em again, aren't you? … Mmmm…" Nabooru stared at Link with large golden eyes. "If only I'd known you'd grow into such a handsome man…"  
"Uh…"  
"If only… heh, that's past now. For the future, take this!"  
She reached up, and the orange Desert Medallion spun down into Link's hands. Holding it in both gauntleted hands, he looked at the Sage.  
"Thank you, Nabooru."  
Nabooru whispered "If only…" again as the world turned white around him.

The Hero of Time reappeared in the desert. Sheik was not there to greet him this time, but that didn't worry Link. He warped to Kokiri Forest and went to sleep.  
The next day, he rode to Hyrule Castle Town. Warping would have been faster, but Link enjoyed the ride, bright with the expectation that Ganondorf would be ousted that day, and that he needn't hurry since everything was in place. Navi, watching his face, saw it shifting often, from gay and carefree to anxious to determined and back to happy.  
He dismounted and left Epona at the broken drawbridge, wading through the shallow water in the centre of the ford. Striding through the gate… he stopped. All thought of the Temple of Time went right out of his head.  
An Ironknuckle was stomping into the square, leading a Redead. Link hid behind the well and watched. The armoured soldier plopped the monster down and began clanking away down a side street. Link followed softly.  
The houses and buildings down this side street looked less dilapidated than those in the main square, and the Ironknuckle went into one.  
Link slipped after it and peered through a crack in the door. There was a horrid stink coming from inside, and he heard moaning, deep unearthly moaning.  
He opened the door, not bothering to be quiet about it. He had found another nest of Ganondorf's monsters, and he was going to exterminate it, quickly.  
Once he found all the inmates of the house looking at him, he wondered if he had made a mistake – there were about ten armoured knights, and one of them rushed to a sliding gate and opened it.  
Redead poured out, and Link charged in, Master Sword blazing. The Redead seemed unfinished, somehow; they looked more human than most of the ones he had fought before, and they were even slower and clumsier than most others as well. The Ironknuckles were much more difficult. He felt his head was too exposed.  
Leaping and spinning and ducking so much left him drained at the end of the battle. He drooped, panting, in the middle of a pile of bodies.  
"Maybe that was a lot to do at once," Navi chided him.  
"I'm going to ache tomorrow," Link grinned back. "I'd better save my strength." Sheathing his sword and shield, he went to explore the rest of the building. There were two corridors leading from the opening room.  
He found a great number of empty, cold stone cells lining the one corridor and wondered. There were other rooms on the other corridor, like a small kitchen, in which the main ingredient available seemed to be cabbage, and something like a barracks, which he supposed was for the armoured guards.  
"Is this some sort of Redead farm?" Navi asked, inspecting odd implements the use of which neither could guess at.  
"Looks like it," Link replied, unhappily.  
He left that room and continued down to the last rooms. All that was left were dank prison-like holes, all locked. He smashed the locks.  
The first two were empty.  
In the third lay a girl, huddled in a corner. She was asleep, but was muttering and moaning. She was no redead, though. Link gave a slight smile – one person was saved out of this mess, at least.  
"Hey, wake up!" Navi chirped, fluttering down to near the girl's face. She was incredibly skinny and was covered in worn, dark grey clothes. Her ribs showed through, and her brown hair was lank and tangled.  
Link knelt beside her too, touching her shoulder. "We're here to re-"  
The young woman twisted under his hand and lunged suddenly for his throat, knocking him backwards to the floor. Her green eyes burned unnaturally bright with an incredible hatred, and her grip on his neck was surprisingly strong.  
"Ra – Ra –na!" Link gasped, prying her hands away from his windpipe. She withdrew suddenly, backing into a combat-ready crouch, glaring defiantly. Link sat up and rubbed his neck.  
"How do you know my name?" snarled the girl.  
"I – " Link stopped short. "My name is Link. You don't remember me?" Navi flew down to his shoulder, staring at Rana.  
"No," she snapped, staring always at his hands, now idly fallen to his lap. "You're a new guard, aren't you? Come to see if _you_ can break me? Try!" Her voice was taunting now.  
"No! We were friends… once. A long time ago, Rana… You don't remember?" Something felt uncomfortably wet in his eye, and he knew he was going to begin crying soon. "My dear kitten friend… I called you a laughing butterfly… What happened to you after I drew the Master Sword? How did this happen?"  
"Master Sword?" Her mouth worked for a moment, and when she spoke, her voice was weary and bitter. "Are you that heroic idiot that deserted Hyrule just when it needed one most?"  
Link stared miserably.  
"Rana?" Navi said. "Where's Naeri?"  
Rana pointed to a lantern near the door without taking her eyes from Link's hands. Navi swooped up to it, and opened it. Naeri woke at that, and seeing Navi, flung herself at her friend and hugged her.  
Meanwhile, the two Hylians had been frozen in their impasse. Link broke the deep silence first.  
"Why won't you look at me?"  
"Hands are dangerous."  
"Would you trust me?" he whispered.  
"No!"  
"Rana…"  
"Shut up."  
"Please?" He sat on his hands, looking at her pleadingly. "Please, my friend…"


	21. Chapter 21: To Find Tranquility

Chapter 21: To Find Tranquility

Rana's brilliant green eyes slowly moved, shifting up near his face, then darting back to make sure his hands hadn't moved.  
Her gaze met his.  
Abruptly, she fell over, clutching her stomach. Her face was crumpled up.  
"Rana?"  
She sat up slowly.  
"Do you know what you are doing to me?" Her words were unsteady. "The memory… the pain… … your eyes… … your eyes… They are the same! I did know you… and I liked you, too! But the… remembering is the equivalent…"She mimed stabbing herself. "I… I…" She began to weep, tears pouring from her eyes now.  
"Rana, I'm sorry… I will take you away from this. I'll teach you yourself again." He put his hand on her shoulder, and she did not flinch or slap it away; instead she took it with her own and held on with a tight grip.  
"I must get you out of here," Link said again after a while. Rana nodded and sat up, almost straight.  
He picked her up and carried her to where Epona was waiting, with only a brief stop – Rana wanted her ocarina, and she knew where it was. Then he rode to Lon Lon Ranch.

Talon walked into the main room. Malon was cooking something that smelled wonderful. The farmer saw Rana.  
"Is that our stray kitten?" he asked jovially. Rana gave a momentary flash of anger; tensing, baring her teeth, and clenching her fists. Talon was taken aback.  
"I'm sorry, Daddy, it is her, but she's not quite herself yet."  
Talon watched Link trying to teach Rana to stand up straight. "I can see that. I'll go milk the cows. Smells good, Mal."  
"Just stand against the wall," Link told Rana.  
"My head feels funny in this position," she mumbled.  
"Well, it's really too far back. But before, it was too far forward. Now- oh, straighten your knees."  
Rana stepped away from the wall, frustrated, almost crying. "Ah, now I don't know in what position I'm supposed to be."  
Link eyed the wall. "You're standing taller. You're above that knot in the wall now, that one that's at my chin. Try bending backwards and see if that helps."  
"I can bend backwards," Rana said, her expression clearing somewhat. She stretched her hands over her head and leaned backwards. Link stared at her, amazed, as she practically bent in half.  
She stood up, her face covered in almost comical astonishment. "I feel… normal, mostly. How did you know how to fix my posture?"  
Link shrugged, smiling. "I guessed. I wondered what it would feel like, and what I would do to compensate… it all worked out, and that's the important thing." He moved a step closer. "Now let's see if we can't get you to smile…"  
Tears came immediately to Rana's eyes. "I don't…" She shook her head, confused and angry, and ran away, out into the field.  
Malon looked out the window. "She doesn't know who she is… she says she remembers all the happy times, but she's still… unhappy."  
"Overdeveloped vengeance complex," Naeri spoke up from her perch on a high cupboard. "Please make her come back inside, Link."  
He nodded and left the house.

He came up behind the girl, staring at the sunset and waited silently.  
"I don't understand," Rana said softly. "Naeri is all right. Why am I so upset?"  
"I wish I had been allowed to stay," Link whispered back. She whipped around, ready to attack, but relaxed quickly. "I could have helped you the day they captured you."  
"I wish you had been there too," Rana cried, shoulders slumping. He stepped forward and hugged her, hesitantly, comfortingly.

Malon sent the two Hylians to the Kokiri Forest the next day, hoping that Rana would find spirit enough to laugh.  
All the Kokiri met them at the bridge. They swarmed around both Hylians, chattering and laughing.  
"Hey, Rana's back! Where were you?"  
"We missed you!"  
"Is that really Link, Rana?"  
"Hey, there's a new Deku Tree! Did you know?"  
Rana's face relaxed, but she couldn't smile.  
"Rana's had some trouble, so go and play for just a bit. If I can make her laugh, she'll come and play. If not…" Link shrugged helplessly.  
After they ate, sitting by the new Deku Tree, Link sat back contentedly.  
"Do you want to hear my adventures?"  
"Sure," Rana admitted.  
He told her what had happened, about Sheik, and the Master Sword, and the Forest.  
"And then I was taken here, and the Deku Sprout was only this high out of the ground… except I didn't know it was him; I thought it was just a baby plant. So I bent over it… and he went Poof!" Link threw himself backwards and yelled the way he had then, or a close imitation. Then he watched her.  
Rana stared for a while. Then, slowly, she began to smile, and then she actually giggled. The giggling turned into a small laugh, which suddenly exploded into her old, carefree, uncontrolled laugh, just the way Link remembered.  
He grinned sheepishly, got up, and hugged her. "It's not that funny."  
"Oh, Link, I haven't laughed for two or three years. Thank you, thank you…" She gulped and swallowed some tears that always came after a hysterical outburst. Link hugged her tightly, and she looked up, puzzled.  
They walked around the forest with an arm around each other.  
He told her of Little Link, and Ruto, "-and she is definite about wanting to marry me… but… I don't want to. She's completely deluded herself."  
"I understand," smiled Rana. "I didn't see her very often, compared to Saria and Malon, but she was always talking about you. Always."  
"Did it bother you?"  
"I knew you didn't like her enough to love her, so it was kinda embarrassing…"  
"Hm. Sorry." He continued with his tale of Shadow Link, and his enjoyment of being able to breathe underwater – "Not quite as good as being a Zoran, but that's not going to happen, now, is it?" he teased her. She laughed, then made round eyes.  
"But where did you get your ears pierced? Or, I mean, when?"  
"Pierced ears?" Link brought up his hand and fingered his long left ear. Sure enough, he found a small ring of metal. "What colour is it?"  
"Blue, sort of like your eyes."  
"I have no idea where that came from. I never noticed it before. Anyway…" he dismissed it as unimportant.  
Then he went on to the Shadow Temple, and Rana learned how anxious he'd been there, and how he'd seen her in the windmill. Then he remembered.  
"I… oh, Rana, I… I found out that I'm not the first Link!" His words stumbled over each other in his eagerness. "There's been a Link I and he rescued Princess Zelda twice, and once was from a monster named Ganon. The other one travelled a bit more and saved two other lands… I forget their names… uh… Holodrum? and Labrynna. And Princess Zelda. And I'm the third in history."  
"Wow!" was all that Rana could say, with rounder eyes.  
He finished with the Desert Dungeon, and about Nabooru and the witches. "After that, well, I had awoken all the Sages, so I was going to go to the Temple of Time to talk to Sheik, but I saw an Ironknuckle behaving oddly, so I followed it… I'm glad I did."  
He held Rana very close, aware how close he had been to losing her and not knowing it. Now she was close to him again… too close?  
"Go and play with the Kokiri, now. I think I need to think for a bit," he told her. With a happy sigh, she got up and danced over to the nearest girl. Link watched her skinny, nimble figure as she swung the cord for a game of jump rope. He was glad she was back to the way she was, all happy and cheerful… but…

That afternoon, Rana demanded more detail of his journeys. He gladly gave her the particulars of every battle and maze.  
"And, Rana, the best part of all this is…"  
"Yes?" she prompted him, curious.  
"You were… are my best friend. And… now I know you are safe… and…"  
He almost couldn't say it.  
"I love you, now."  
Rana was silent.  
"I… don't know what to say," she mumbled finally.  
"May I kiss you?" Link asked shyly.  
She nodded, not looking directly at him.  
His lips met hers.  
They stayed that way for a long moment before they parted.  
"I love you…" Link whispered.  
She sighed contentedly. "I… I think… I love you back."  
"You don't know?" Link teased her. She hugged him more tightly.  
"I do! I do! Only, I've only really known you for two days…"  
"Plus all those years," he reminded her. She nodded.  
"I'm just wondering if it's normal or good that this happened in such a short time."  
"Well," Link began hesitantly, "I think I have an advantage over you. I have very recent memories of you as a child, and then to grow up very suddenly, and find the child, oh, so beautiful…"  
"I… have memories of you… but it's more like a nice dream that happened long ago. But you're so kind and handsome and brave and noble… etc. etc." She smiled up at him, and he kissed her again, holding her close.  
They stayed with the Kokiri for the rest of the day before returning to the ranch.  
After supper, Malon turned to Rana."Rana, d'you want to help me put the horses to bed?"  
"Sure!" Rana agreed readily.  
As they rubbed down the horses in the barn, Malon turned to Rana.  
"So, what's the secret?"  
"The secret?" repeated Rana.  
"Why do you look so blessedly happy?"  
Rana smiled, and whispered to her friend: "I'm engaged to Link…"  
"Ah, yes. Link's been obsessing over finding you since he got here, and you know, I figured that would happen sooner or later. I just had a crush on him… but then, everyone does! So, just be in love. I understand completely."  
"Whoa, that's a convincing argument."  
"It's true!" Both girls laughed. Malon winked. "Besides, there's this cute guy in Kakariko named Alan. He used to be a knight until Ganny took over. I might decide to fall in love with him."  
"That's wonderful!"

On the second day, they went to Zora's Domain. Shoza and Bitu were hacking at the frozen waterfall and carrying the ice chunks to a bonfire near the entrance, dumping the melted water into the river.  
"Gotta get a head start on spring, you know?" Shoza said. Then he saw Rana. "Hey, Rana! Kittengirl!"  
Rana laughed and hugged the Zora. "I asked you not to call me that, finboy."  
"Yeah, I know, but you're alive! I was pretty worried, since you didn't show up for two or three years… and meanwhile I was wondering if I was alive. Anyhow…"  
"Hmm? Link, who's that?" asked Ruto, startling all of them.  
"Ah, this is Rana, the girl I was looking for."  
"Ah, I see," Ruto smiled. "I recall you a bit, now that I see you. Let's go chat." The Zoran princess grabbed an ice saw and wandered over to the waterfall, Rana following. Bitu trailed after both of them.  
"So, are you going to marry the princess?" Shoza asked slyly. "She's begun to talk of nothing else. Not to King Zora, though." He laughed.  
Link blushed a bit. "Well, I wasn't really listening the first time she proposed…" Both men chuckled. "Anyway, now…" His gaze travelled over to Rana.  
Shoza looked closely at him. "I see."  
"Huh?" Link blinked and looked around, directly into Shoza's blue-black eyes.  
Shoza grinned. "I can see you're sweet on that pretty giggly sword girl, huh? Anyway, it's just as well for me, since…" he looked over at the ice chippers too.  
"Ah." Link nodded. He leaned in close. "What say we…"  
"Hmm…" Shoza considered. "We get Ruto's crush off you and on me?"  
"Precisely. Just after I beat Ganondorf, we'll get together and … make it happen." Link's shy smile turned into a mischievous grin as he imagined the amusement the project would generate. Shoza grinned along with him.

The day after, Epona at last carried Link and Rana to Hyrule Castle in the rose of dawn. They got off and walked to the Temple door.  
"Stay here," Link told Rana. "I'll go in and see what Sheik wants."  
She nodded.  
Link ran in. On the pedestal close to the entrance, he waited.  
There was a light sound, like the _flit_ of a bird's wing, behind him. Link turned, smiling.  
"Hello, Shiek. Sorry I'm late; I found Rana."  
"Good morning, Hero."  
"Hero again? I thought you didn't like that formal language."  
Shiek stood straight and slim. "This occasion is different. This is the final turning point for Hyrule." He paused, and said impressively: "You have awoken the Six Sages. However, the Seventh Sage must still join you."  
"There's a Seventh Sage?"  
"Yes, which is why I never knew why they called the group the Six-Sages-and-one-extra." Sheik rolled his eyes. Link smiled.  
Shiek's knees bent, and he shifted his weight into an awkward looking pose. There was a brilliant flash of light.  
When Link could look again, he saw pink.  
He caught his breath.  
The Princess Zelda stood before him, ten times lovelier than she had been before. Her shimmering golden hair flowed down her back and her sky-blue eyes were large and shining in her pale face.  
Link tried to say something, but couldn't.  
Zelda quickly grasped his hands. "I need to give you this. Without it, you won't win." She pressed arrows into his hands, golden arrows with peculiar fletching. Arrows of Light magic! Link grinned. With these he felt almost invincible.  
"I am the Seventh Sage," Zelda was saying very rapidly. "I disguised myself with magic all these seven years so Ganondorf wouldn't find me; crimson Shiekah eyes, and my outer magical layer of skin tanned in the sun… We must go quickly, before he does someth-" She cut off with a cry. The ground rumbled, and dust quivered from the ceiling. The two Hylians looked around wildly.


	22. Chapter 22: The King of Evil

Chapter 22: The King of Evil

A pink crystal was forming around the princess. She cast several spells, some of which Link had never seen before, but the crystal's surface hardened into an impenetrable shell. Link felt the shell, tapping it cautiously, and then slamming his fist into it with all his strength. He cast Nayru's Love and drew the Master Sword, but even the legendary Evil's Bane merely bounced off the caging spell.  
A deep voice boomed through the Temple. "You foolish little bugs… you are no match for me! I commend you for eluding me for so long. At last, I have found the princess, and now Hyrule will truly be mine!" The cage began to rise and spin. Link tried one last futile time to shatter it, but failed.  
"That was Ganondorf," Navi said in a low voice. "The Triforce. Its strength gave him power to resist even the Master Sword."  
"I see," Link said grimly, running out of the Temple.  
"Rana! We need to go really fast! Ganondorf's got Zelda!"  
"What? How?"  
"I have the Light Arrows!" Link hadn't heard her startled shout.  
The two Hylians tore up the hill to Ganondorf's castle.  
A giant, irregular block of stone supporting a huge tower built of black rock hovered over a lake of lava. Link skidded to a halt on the closest bit of solid ground, staring hopelessly at the distant, wide open gate. It was too far even for his hookshot.  
"Don't despair," Saria's voice sounded in his head. "We're here."  
Light, unrolling like a carpet, many coloured, blossomed from the ground at Link's feet and stretched in a wide arc to the gate.  
He smiled at Rana and stretched out his hand. "Come on, kitten. We're facing this one together, like we used to."  
Rana smiled broadly back at him and took his hand.

The entrance was dark. Link almost tripped on stairs leading downwards. They were soft, carpeted in a red rug. As his eyes adjusted to the dim torchlight, he made out two Beamos on either side of an open door. Rana giggled and set robotic mouse bombs on them.  
"I love bombchus," she said.  
Through the doorway, there was a huge fat pillar surrounded by a grey force field. The pillar had a gate like a flat dragon's face in it, and a bridge led to it. All around the room, there were six doors with the Sages' symbols on them. Link stepped into the room.  
There was a cry behind him. Rana was kept back by a shield of energy.  
"Oh!" cried Navi.  
"I'm so sorry," panted Naeri, draining her energy in an effort to penetrate the barrier.  
"Oh, Rana… I wish you could have come."  
"Me too. Well…"  
Link looked to see Rana turn and head for a little side door, by the left Beamos going in.  
The girl looked at him. "This way leads to the prisons and the barracks. I'm going down there."  
"But… you don't need to."  
"Yes, I do," she argued. "There are a couple of normal people down there. And you can't have a companion up there…"  
"And you want revenge, don't you."  
She shifted uncomfortably.  
"Oh, well. Please, please don't get yourself killed; please don't die."  
She smiled brightly. "I won't."  
"I won't let her," Naeri promised solemnly.

Link turned back and looked around. There was a bridge leading to a gate directly ahead of him, but it was bound round and round with a multi-coloured crackle of energy.  
"I suppose that is constructed out of energy stolen from the six dominions of the Sages while they were still asleep," he said.  
"You're right," Navi replied.  
Link turned and headed for the first door, green. It led him to a puzzle, after which, he entered the door at the end of the room and saw Saria, slightly transparent, hovering on the wall. The green stream of energy was pouring out of a red, pulsing ball.  
Link shot an arrow of light into the conduit-ball, which exploded, and shared a brief moment with his best friend as their eyes met. She flickered and turned into a bright ball of green light.  
Next thing he knew, he found himself back in the main hall. The current of green energy flowing to the shield dried up. Around the pillar in the centre, the green shield had vanished.  
Next was the water barrier. As Link smashed through the conduit, he met Ruto's eyes; she was standing on the wall where Saria had been in hers. She looked very serious and determined. Link guessed that she was actually a deeper person than he had thought.  
The shadow barrier was next. Though the room appeared bottomless with an invisible pathway across it, he saw a tricky side path winding down very narrowly, and went on it out of curiousity. At the bottom was a treasure chest, filled with a ton of junk – money – and also with a pair of gauntlets in them.  
"These are… the Golden Gauntlets?" Navi said. "They must be even better than the silver ones. We'll give these back to Nabooru as soon as we can, right?"  
"Yes."  
He made it, carefully, a little wobbly, to the other side and cut the spell drawing Impa's power.  
The fire's puzzle was difficult and far too hot, even for the Goron tunic. Back in the main chamber, Link sagged. Sweat poured off him in what felt like rivers.  
"You better drink something," Navi suggested, watching him. Link nodded and got out his waterbottle.  
He went to the door on his left and found it was the source of the light shield, judging from the symbol above the door. After that there was only the desert shield.  
Finally, the barrier around the central pillar was gone; the energy had all dried up. Link crossed the bridge and walked through the toothy doorway.  
There was a red-carpeted flight of stairs, leading upwards. Fire Keese flew around, giving Link more light than the feeble torches. He ran up the stairs and got through the next door before the bats attacked him.  
Navi helped him take down the Ironknuckle in the next room. The room was octagonal, well-lit, and rather nicely decorated. Link wondered why Ganondorf had gone to all the trouble of designing his castle the way he had, but decided that even the wicked usurper had a liking for… perhaps art would be the proper category, he decided.  
He hurried up the next staircase, this one carpeted also, but lined with stained glass windows. Zelda could take care of herself, he knew, but he was still anxious. Besides which, he didn't know what would happen when he got to the top of the tower, where Ganondorf lived, and he wanted to find out fast. He began to hear distant, deep notes of music, vibrating the stones under his feet.  
He fought four more Ironknuckles in pairs, and then he had to take a rest before tackling the last stair. He could tell he was getting close, because the dour, creepy music was much louder. He could hear the upper registers now, and it was pretty loud. The stained glass windows were all the same pattern, but more and more light seemed to get through them, giving him a bizarre feeling of hope.  
At the top of that one, there was a door of steel and bronze, half again as high as Link was tall. The carpet abruptly changed to green.  
Link opened the door, lifting it up over his head. It fell behind him with an echoing boom, hardly audible in the deafening music.  
The wall across from the door was a solid bank of organ pipes. A red-haired man sat at the tiny console at the base.  
Hovering in her pink crystal, like a decoration on the organ, was Princess Zelda! Link waved at her. She looked relieved to see him, but still frightened.  
Abruptly, the organ music stopped. Link was glad; it vibrated in his chest uncomfortably.  
Ganondorf pushed the bench back until it cleared the pedalboard and stood.  
"So. You've come, have you?"  
Link squared his shoulders and said nothing.  
"You pathetic fools… I'm so glad you came. I can crush you and take Hyrule at last!" He whirled, his red and black cloak swirling behind him, and raised his clenched right fist. A golden, triangular mark glowed brightly, and swirling purple waves blasted out at Link, who automatically raised his sword arm to block it.  
A lovely ringing sound echoed through the room, resonating in the pipes. The back of Link's hand felt… protected. A new presence seemed to brush his mind, a presence of greenness, of life and vigour.  
"Farore…" Link's lips said.  
Navi hovered near Link, shivering in agitation. "I can't get through the darkness, Link! I can't help you! You're all alone on this one! I'm so sorry!"  
Another bell-like sound echoed, and Zelda gasped. Link looked up, and saw another gleaming golden triangle imprint itself on the back of her right hand.  
Ganondorf ceased his curse and stared at Link.  
"How… but of course. Just like your stupid ancestors, you have been granted the Triforces of Wisdom and Courage, while I still have Strength." Link stared at the Triforce on the back of his left hand in awe. Navi flew into his face, asking for comfort, and he stroked her delicate wings while exchanging a startled glance with Zelda.  
"It is always so," Ganondorf growled. If Link had not known that he was evil before, he knew it now. "This time, it is different! I swear it, Ganon! We shall rule the world, even the Sacred Realm, as you have long desired, and we can take and destroy and command at our will! You weaklings are no match for me!"  
The King of Evil rose into the air, and the wall with the organ and Zelda vanished. Link flipped sideways as the floor fell out from under him. He got into a corner, his Hylian Shield out in front of him. A spell, a very familiar spell hit the shield with a thump, and he was racked with a familiar pain: the spell was the same one he had been hit with when he was twelve, defying Ganondorf outside Hyrule Castle Town.  
He picked himself up and stood ready for the next spell. He knew what to do next. How many days had it been since he had fought Shadow Ganon?  
Ganondorf lobbed a spell at him, and Link batted it back. Yes, it was exactly the same. Link smiled tightly behind his shield. It had been a mistake for the usurper to make a copy of himself for the hero to fight. He also knew that his shield did nothing to protect him against this magic, but it felt comfortable standing by.  
At last the spell hit the evil king, but he still hovered in the air, paralyzed. Link jumped towards him, but he couldn't reach him even with his long sword. Ganondorf began to recover and Link leaped away.  
The previous performance repeated, and this time Link pulled out his bow and charged up his arrows with Light. He only had a few seconds, so, aiming by instinct, let fly.  
Ganondorf sank to the floor, groaning pitifully. Link charged him and hit him with the Master Sword: only a glancing blow on the shoulder, which was disappointing. But, still, he had found Ganondorf's weakness to the bottom.  
Returning to his corner, he faced into an incensed Ganondorf. He raised his hand to the ceiling, and the room went dark. Magic flowed to his hand like lightening. Link braced himself.  
Five spheres of magic headed out on irregular paths at Link. He tried to duck and slice with his sword at the same time. Four balls slammed into his torso, and the last one was deflected by Ganondorf and hit him anyway. Link crumpled to the floor, gritting his teeth tightly, and Ganondorf laughed.  
Another spell was incoming, only a single ball this time, and Link swung his sword in time, clambering to his feet in time to hit it again. Only one more time, and Ganondorf swung late. Link snatched his bow and sent a shining arrow at the Gerudo King. He missed, and ducked to another corner.  
Ganondorf prepared his five-hit spell. Link readied his sword.  
Five spheres arced in. Link waited until they were half-way to him, then let loose with the fastest spin he could manage. Five spheres whacked Ganondorf askew; Link shot him with a glowing piece of sun.  
He jumped to the centre platform where Ganondorf hunched on one knee, left arm back, right arm and shield up, and stabbed the King of Evil in the stomach.  
A horrible scream tore from his throat, shattering the windows. Link swayed on his feet, clamping his hands – which were full of gear – over his long, sensitive ears. The window frames dissolved, and the roof fell in, the huge pieces of masonry barely missing the hero. Ganondorf gurgled and fell on his face, green blood leaking from his front and his mouth.


	23. Chapter 23: The God of Evil

Chapter 23: The God of Evil

A pink crystal floated down from the empty dark grey sky and shattered as it touched the tower top.  
"Zelda!" Link cried in relief. "How are you?"  
"I'm quite fine," said the princess, sounding quite different from the ninja he had become used to. "It's good that pitiful man is dead…"  
"Well, now, Sheik, I think you have some explaining to do," returned the Hylian, grinning. The princess smiled back. "Gosh, I'm tired. So glad that's over. What are you going to do now? What's the first thing you're going to do?"  
"Let me see…" Zelda thought.  
Link cupped his hand over his mouth thoughtfully. "Well, for me, first of all, I think I'm going to spend some time in the Zora and Goron lands and get to know my friends better. Then I'm going to build a slightly larger house in Kokiri Forest, if the Deku Tree allows it, and…"  
"Get married?" finished Zelda.  
"Yes," Link grinned, blushing a bit.  
"I see… I'm going to get the Sages to help me rebuild Hyrule Castle. It won't be exactly the way it used to be, but it will be even better."  
"Ah, the innocence of youth," joked Link.  
"I mean it," Zelda smiled. She was lovely when she smiled. "It will be better. I don't know exactly how I'm going to plan it, but I've only just started thinking about it, thanks to you. What are you going to do now that you don't have to be a hero?"  
"Uh… I think I might be either a knight, under your command, or maybe I'll be a… farmer! Farming is an active profession, so I'll stay strong, and it's very productive."  
"I see," said Zelda again. "I suppose I'll have to ascend the throne… I really would have rather married you, but it's quite all right that you love Rana. She was a very good friend to me before she disappeared. I wonder whom I will marry, then…"  
Their star-crossed dreams of the future were interrupted by one last gasp from Ganondorf.  
The floor began to shake violently. Zelda looked around.  
"Oh, no! I should have realized… the clouds would have gone away if the evil was wholly gone! We have to get out, now! He's trying to bring the castle down on us!"  
"Stay close to me!" Link shouted, running for the ramp where the stairs used to be.  
At first he thought he was on a different staircase, but no… it was only that at the bottom the door was barred. Zelda gave an upward shove with her hands and the bars lifted. The two charged through. Link glanced curiously at Zelda's lovely gown. 'How can she run so fast in it?' he wondered.  
At last they reached the bottom of the stairs and ran over the bridge. At least, Zelda ran over the bridge. Link was halted in his tracks by a Redead scream. It moved towards him, and he strove with all his considerable will to break the curse and get out. It was wasting their precious time!  
Zelda's hands glowed, and the creature burst into flame. Link shouted a thank you to her as they hurried up the last flight of stairs to the gate. Heavy rocks were dislodged out of the ceiling. Some smaller ones struck them, but they managed to get out.  
"Rana! Ranaaa!" Link shouted around the empty plateau. She wasn't there.  
"Stay here!" he shouted to Zelda. "I have to go and get Rana! If I don't, she won't come out!" Before Zelda could answer he dove back into the castle and dimly heard the princess' shriek behind him. He dashed back down the shaking stairs and took the left, downwards passage.  
"Ranaaaaaaa!" He screamed her name over the rumble of the collapsing castle, often, and repeatedly. He heard the sound of fighting, and ran faster. Rocks tumbled around him.  
Rana was, yes, still fighting ferociously. Link didn't count the number of dead Ironknuckles, but there were many sprawled about. Some of them had bows.  
"Rana!" cried Link. "We need to get out of here! The castle is collapsing!" She turned and almost attacked him. He ducked. "Rana!"  
He picked her up and flung her over his shoulder. Then he ran the fastest he had ever run in his life. She shrieked, and he felt an arrow in her side, but couldn't shift.  
That was a nightmare. Rocks not only fell from the ceiling, but were catapulted past him. Rana moaned, and Link knew she found it a nightmare too. They heard Zelda's voice as Link pounded up and out.  
"Link! You have to come out! Please don't die! …I'm coming in to look for you!"  
"No!" yelled Link. "Don't come back in!" He flew out, propelled by a sudden jet of air from deep in the castle, along with a lot of debris. He landed on his back, grunting in pain, and skidded, clutching the girl safely to him.  
Rana twisted in his arms. "Wow! Look at it go!"  
When all was still, he sat up. Rana was not going to die from that arrow just yet, but he wanted to get her to Lauri or a fairy healer soon. First, though…  
"So, anyway, this is Princess Zelda, and, Zelda, this is my best friend Rana… Hang on, you already know each other."  
"We do?" Rana asked, looking up from trying to pull the arrow out. "Like, personally other than that half-hour meeting when we were little-ish kids?"  
"Yes," said Zelda, smiling. "You might know a wild young Shiekah boy… Well, he's actually a girl. My anti-Ganondorf disguise."  
"Ohhhhhhhhh," Rana made a long drawn-out gasp, and the other two chuckled.  
Zelda looked at the sky again. "It's still not clearing up."  
"Hmm…"  
A strange noise made its way to their ears. Link stiffened and flung his arm in front of the girls.  
"What was that?" Zelda asked in a small voice. Link took a step forward, but Rana grabbed his arm.  
"I want to come."  
"Rana," Link said firmly, "stay here where you won't injure yourself more. I'll take you somewhere to fix your injury just as soon as I find out what's going on over there. Okay?"  
"All right…"  
He trotted forward, to the largest pile of rubble. The ground was nearly flat; he wondered why that could be, in the ruins of a castle. Even a magic castle.  
He didn't even get close to the pile, when Ganondorf sprang out of it, into the sky. The two girls cried out and ran forward, and they were all trapped in a ring of flame.  
Ganondorf screamed to the clouds, and a change began to take place.  
The King of Evil flickered with blue lightening and darkness cloaked his body. It swelled and distorted into a large, boar-like shape.  
Ganon, the ancient enemy of Hyrule, landed on his hoofed feet on the ground and drew two enormous blades. He swung them, roaring, and the Master Sword was ripped from Link's grasp as he tried to defend himself. The sword landed point down outside of the ring of fire. Zelda dove for cover, and Rana ducked.  
"Link!" Navi cried. "I can help you this time! We can't be parted again!" She sounded so brave and defiant, that Link felt his heart swell with pride for his little fairy. He glanced at the unreachable Master Sword, then looked up at Navi and snapped his fingers, grinning.  
The Megaton Hammer appeared out of nowhere. Link hastily slung his shield on his back and took it in both hands. Then he had to run, as Ganon was chasing him.  
There was a long strip of smoother wreckage extending along a diameter of the circle, and he ran one way until Ganon's footsteps didn't sound on top of his skull, then turned around.  
Rana was already hacking at the boar's hide, and getting nowhere. It ignored her. The arrow in her side was gone.  
Link dashed back, but the huge swords that Ganon held swooshed meatily through the air, almost slicing the hero in half. He glanced around and saw that Zelda had taken refuge on a pile of fallen blocks, where the monster couldn't climb. Rana was trimming the edge of Ganon's robes into shorts, but otherwise doing nothing to him.  
"Rana, could you help me… differently?" Link called. She grabbed one of Ganon's bulky arms and pulled. The monster, distracted, tried to brush her off, but flinched with a roar as Link's hammer slammed into his tail. Rana let go and back flipped to avoid getting decapitated. Ganon turned around, rather majestically, Link thought sardonically, and found his opponent still behind him.  
Rana began laughing as Link hid behind the King of Evil, preying on its rear end. Though no one knew it right away, each blow, powered as the non-magical weapon was by the Triforce of Courage and wielded by a good heart, was a deep wound to the Evil One.  
Link was at last faced and forced to run to the other side of the arena. Rana hopped down from her perch on a rock to help, and Zelda began to climb down also.  
"No, stay there!" Link cautioned the Princess. She glared playfully at him in an un-princess-like fashion, but obeyed. Rana grabbed the boar's arm again, giving Link time to somersault around Ganon's left hoof and hack away.  
Ganon collapsed, breathing heavily, and the ring of fire died for a moment. Rana backed away, catching her breath: her face was pale and sweaty, her hair hanging limp, the hair-tie gone. Zelda seemed to be preparing something, but darkness came between her and the beast and she hid it behind her back quickly. Link turned and dashed for the Master Sword. It seemed even more comfortable in his hand after giving the heavy hammer back to Navi and taking Evil's Bane in his grip once more. As he charged back, Ganon slowly rose. Link twirled his sword and fixed the beast with his hard blue gaze.  
Rana, right on cue, seized Ganon's left arm again. Ganon flicked his left arm.  
Hard.  
Zelda screamed as Rana flew to the edge of the island, an explosion of fire wreathing her body as she passed over the ring. The princess jumped off her heights and ran to the rim of the ring to see.  
She saw Rana's hand clinging to the edge of the cliff, knuckles white with exertion. Bit by bit, Rana hauled herself up and onto firm ground and fainted. Naeri fainted along with her.  
Link was committing virtual suicide: a full-fledged front attack to Ganon's leathery hide. The flat of Ganon's sword caught him and sent him too flying several metres to land heavily against a fallen pillar, but he picked himself back up and flung himself against Ganon again.  
"She's still here!" Zelda informed him. "She's fainted, but alive." The homicidal maniac slowed down his assault briefly. Then Link re-attacked even more strongly. Ganon roared and thrashed, but couldn't shake him off, and he then turned and ran from the miniature – to him – Hylian who would not stop hurting him. The silver Master Sword sliced his tail off completely.  
With a moan, not a roar, not an explosion, Ganon, King of Evil, slumped on his face for the second time.  
A beam of light, as from the sun, smacked him in the face, and the monster writhed in his torment. Zelda was holding him with enchantments.  
Link stalked around to face him. His boots echoed on the hard stone surface, echoing off the stark surrounding cliffs.  
Ganon opened his yellow-red eyes reluctantly. Link's image burned into his brain, but he only remembered one thing, something familiar from two memories…  
His eyes.  
The brilliance of their gaze hit Ganon, and he trembled. The King of Evil had lost to the Chosen One for the fourth time. Ganon was afraid again, too afraid to revow his vengeance yet, afraid of this small avenging Hylian.  
Link brought up his sword. Ganon tried to break free, to escape the pain coming, but failed.  
Link stabbed four times, meeting Ganon each time. Blood sprayed everywhere. Ganon's body flopped, and then flew into the air, transforming back into Ganondorf.  
Zelda fell exhausted on her knees, crying out: "Sages! Now!"  
In the Temple of Light, the six held their hands high. They vanished and six coloured balls of light appeared on their pedestals. The balls – the sages' power and being – drew back, and then dove together and collided with a colossal bang. A miniature black hole appeared over the grey pedestal.  
The white, hazy dream state enveloped the Sages, Ganondorf, Zelda, and Link.  
"CURSE YOU, SAGES!" Ganondorf howled as he fell into oblivion.  
"CURSE YOU, ZELDA!" The words were a scream.  
"CURSE YOU, LINK!" The scream rose to a shriek, louder and more filled with hatred than the other two curses.  
"AS LONG AS THE TRIFORCE OF POWER RESTS ON MY HAND, I WILL COME BACK! I WILL EXTERMINATE YOUR DESCENDANTS, LINK!" A long high pitched wail echoed out of the Evil Realm, echoing throughout Hyrule, and the wind stopped.  
Link awoke from the trance state like struggling to the top of a very deep pool of water. His eyes sought Zelda.  
"Is he gone? For good?"  
She answered shakily. "Yes." Stars were visible overhead, but the sun was going down in fiery glory over Lake Hylia.  
Link exhaled long and gratefully, then went to sheath his sword. He stopped. It was red, black, and green with blood and Ganon's flesh. He carefully wiped it off on a shred of cloth lying on the ground, sheathed it, and then hurried to Rana.  
When he got to her, he wished he had hurried faster, was angry with himself for showing off in front of Ganon. She was white and cold to the touch; the arrow had twisted deep into her guts. Naeri's glow was faint. Navi fluttered desperately beside her fairy friend.  
Link scooped Rana into his arms, listening to her breathing. She was still alive. He looked anxiously at Zelda. She shook her head, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks.  
"No!" he cried, his heart skipping.  
As if his voice called her, Rana stirred.  
"Link?" she queried weakly. "Is Ganon dead?"  
Link nodded mutely, trying not to let her see him crying.  
"Yay!" she whispered. Link could not keep back his tearful smile.  
"I'm so glad. Now, we can go home… if I can live that long. Do you think I can?"  
"Rana… … …I want you to live! I want you to come home with me. I want you to live a normal life now, like you did seven years ago before I left. Only with…"  
A troubled look crossed the girl's face. "I'm sorry. I almost wish you hadn't lo-"  
"I love you," Link whispered earnestly.  
"I love you," she echoed tenderly. "But I am dying. I think. I'd better say good-bye just in case. I'm so very happy that you have won, Hero of Time…"  
"No… Rana…"  
"You are the hero, whether you like it or not." She grinned a bit, having wilfully misconstrued his comment. "I'm sorry you're so sad…"  
"I can't live without you!"  
Rana looked at him unhappily for a moment, but then turned to Zelda. "Princess… uh, I mean Zelda… wow, you are dazzlingly beautiful. May you rule Hyrule long and well. … … Navi?"  
Navi was holding Naeri, who was fading.  
"Please, continue guarding Link as only you know how."  
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then opened her emerald eyes and stared clearly at Link.  
"Link, my best and truest friend… and – I will always love you…"  
"I will always love you…" Link echoed, hunched over her. Her hand weakly caressed his face, and her arms encircled his neck. He cradled her close and kissed her.  
She was still.  
Link wept.


End file.
